GIFT   OF 
JANE  K.SATHER 


ON  THE 

COLONIZATION  SOCIETY; 

WITH  A  VIEW  OF 

ITS  PROBABLE  RESULTS, 

UNDER  THE  FOLLOWING  HEADS  : 

The  Origin  of  the  Society ;  Increase  of  the  Coloured  Population  ; 
Manumission  of  Slaves  in  this  country  ; 

DECLARATIONS  OF  LEGISLATURES,  AND  OTHER  ASSEMBLED 
BODIES,  IN  FAVOUR  OF  THE  SOCIETY ; 


Situation  of  the  Colonists  at  Monrovia  and  other  towns  ;  Moral  and  Reli 
gious  Character  of  the  Settlers;  Soil,  Climate,  Productions, 
and  Commerce  of  Liberia  $ 

Advantages  to  the  free  coloured  Population,  by  emigration  to  Liberia ;  Disadvan 
tages  of  slavery  to  the  white  population;  Character  of  the  Natives  of  Africa, 
before  the  irruptions  of  the  Barbarians;  Effects  of  Colonization  on  the  Slave 
Trade,  with  a  slight  sketch  of  that  nefarious  and  accursed  traffic. 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  HON.  C.  F.  MERCER,  M.  H.  R.  U.  S. 


SECOND  EDITION,  ENLARGED  AND  IMPROVED. 


"  Nearly  $2,000  persons  have  kindled  a  beacon  fire  at  Monrovia,  to  cast  a  broad  blaze  of  light 
into  the  dark  recesses  of  that  benighted  land  ;  and  though  much  pains  have  been  taken  to  overrate 
the  cost,  and  undervalue  the  results,  yet  the  annals  of  colonization  may  be  triumphantly  chal 
lenged  for  a  parallel. 

"  Five  years  of  preliminary  operations  were  requisite  for  surveying  the  coast— propitiating  the 
natives— and  selecting  the  most  eligible  site.  Numerous  agents  were  subsequently  employed—  ships 
chartered— the  coast  cleared— schools,  factories,  hospitals,  churches,  government  buildings  and 
dwellings  erected— and  the  many  expenses  requisite  here  were  defrayed  ;— and  yet.  for  every  fifty 
dollars  expended  by  the  society  from  its  commencement,  we  have  not  only  a  settler  to  show,  but  an 
ample  and  fertile  territory  in  reserve,  \vhereourfuture  emigrants  may  '  sit  down  under  their  own 
vines  and  fig  trees,  with  none  to  make  them  afraid.'  During  the  last  year,  an  amount,  nearly  equal 
to  the  united  expenditures,  has  been  exported  by  the  colonists.  From  Philadelphia  alone,  eleven 
vessels  have  sailed;  three  of  them  chartered  through  the  efforts  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society,  and 
bearing  to  the  land  of  their  fathers  a  large  number  of  slaves,  manumitted  by  the  benevolence  of 
their  late  owners."— Cresson. 

Philadelphia,  April  26,  1832. 


• 


w  We  may  boldly  challenge  the  annals  of  human  nature  for  the  record  of  any 
human  plan,  for  the  melioration  of  the  condition  or  advancement  of  the  happiness 
of  our  race,  which  promised  more  unmixed  good,  or  more  comprehensive  benefi 
cence  than  that  of  African  colonization,  if  carried  into  full  execution.  Its  benevo 
lent  purpose  is  not  limited  by  the  confines  of  one  continent,  nor  to  the  prosperity  of 
a  solitary  race  ;  but  embraces  two  of  the  largest  quarters  of  the  earth,  and  the  peace 
and  the  happiness  of  both  of  the  descriptions  of  their  present  inhabitants,  with  the 
countless  millions  of  their  posterity  who  are  to  succeed.  It  appeals  for  aid  and 
support  to  the  friends  of  liberty,  here  and  elsewhere.  The  colonists,  reared  in  the 
bosom  of  this  republic,  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  all  the  blessings  which  freedom 
imparts,  altho'  they  have  not  always  been  able  themselves  to  share  them,  will  carry 
a  recollection  of  it  to  Africa,  plant  it  there,  and  spread  it  over  her  boundless  terri 
tory.  And  may  we  not  indulge  the  hope,  that,  in  a  period  of  time  not  surpassing  in 
duration,  that  of  our  own  colonial  and  national  existence,  we  shall  behold  a  con 
federation  of  republican  stales,  on  the  western  shores  of  Africa,  like  our  own,  with 
their  congress  and  annual  legislatures,  thundering  forth  in  behalf  of  the  rights  of 
man,  and  making  tyrants  tremble  on  their  thrones?" — Mr.  Clay. 

"  It  will  enable  them  to  become  a  free,  independent,  civilized  and  Christian  nation 
in  the  land  of  their  forefathers.  Elevated  in  character  and  in  full  enjoyment  of  the 
rights  of  man,  they  will  not  only  assume  a  station  in  the  great  human  family,  which 
it  is  impossible  for  them  to  attain  in  this  country  ;  but  their  example  and  influence 
will  gradually  extend  over  those  numerous  tribes,  which,  through  all  time  have 
remained  in  a  state  of  barbarism  and  degradation,  and  cruelly  subjected  to  slavery 
by  surrounding  and  distant  nations." — Dearborn. 

"They  point  to  Africa,  sitting  beneath  her  own  palm  trees,  "clothed  in  sack- 
cloth,  and  weeping  for  her  children,  and  refusing  to  be  comforted,"  because  they 
have  been  murdered  on  her  desolated  shores,  and  buried  beneath  the  billows  of  the 
ocean,  and  carried  into  hopeless  and  interminable  slavery.  Wretched  Africa  !  she 
has  indeed  fallen  among  thieves,  who  have  robbed  and  wounded  her,  and  she  is  now 
bleeding  from  a  thousand  wounds — who  will  act  to  her  the  part  of  a  good  Samaritan? 
"Who  will  "  bind  up  her  wounds,  and  pour  into  them  wine  and  ozZ,"and  protect  her 
from  her  enemies,  and  chase  away  those  human  vultures,  that  are  perpetually  ho 
vering  on  her  coasts,  and  feeding  on  the  flesh  and  blood  of  her  children  ?  Who  will 
light  for  her  the  lamp  of  science,  and  publish  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  her 
sons  and  daughters?  and  raise  her  from  that  state  of  moral  degradation,  into  which 
she  has  sunk  in  the  lapse  of  ages  ?" — M'Kinney. 

"  There  is  not,  we  believe,  another  benevolent  enterprize  on  earth,  so  well  cal 
culated  to  secure  the  favourable  opinion  and  enlist  the  hearty  good  will  of  ALL  MEN, 
as  this  is,  when  its  objects  and  bearings  are  fully  understood.  In  relation  to  this 
society  it  is  eminently  the  fact,  that  opposition  and  indifference  have  their  origin 
in  prejudice  or  want  of  information.  Ignorance  may  raise  an  objection  which  it 
requires  knowledge  to  remove;  and  to  rest  one's  refusal  to  co-operate  in  what  he  is 
told  is  a  good  work,  on  his  own  ignorance,  is  both  weak  and  wicked.  Especially  in 
relation  to  a  benevolent  enJterprize  of  such  magnitude  as  this,  and  which  has  been 
some  ten  or  fifteen  years  before  tfce  public,,  the  plea-'of  ignorance  is  made  with  a  very 
ill  grace." 

"Is  a  nation  like  this>,to  be  embarrassed  by  an  annual  appropriation  of  little  more 
than  a  million  of  dollars. to; the  cause  ef  humanity ?  a  nation  that  can  extinguish  in 
a  year  twelve  millions  of  national  debt,  and  at  tnc  sajiie  time  prosecute  with  vigour 
its  majestic  plans  of  defence  and  internal  improvement?  a  nation,  one  of  whose 
states  can  hazard  six  millions  of  dollars  on  the  project  of  opening  a  canal — a  nation, 
whose  canvass  whitens  every  sea,  and  proudly  enters  almost  every  harbour  of  the 
globe? — a  nation,  whose  villages  and  cities  are  rising,  as  by  magic,  over  a  fertile 
territory  of  two  millions  of  square  miles: — a  nation,  destined  within  the  compass 
of  the  passing  century  to  embosom  a  white  population  of  eighty  millions?  With 
the  past  smiles  of  Divine  Providence,  our  national  debt  will  be  soon  annihi 
lated.  And  from  that  glad  hour,  let  the  government  provide  liberally  for  all  its  ne. 
cessary  operations — let  it  push  forward  in  its  splendid  machinery  of  political  im 
provement,  and  then  give  to  our  cause  but  the  surplus  of  its  revenue:  and  as  regards 
the  expense  of  transportation,  it  will  [at  no  distant  day]  furnish  the-means  of  granting 
to  every  African  exile  among  us,  a  happy  home  in  the  land  of  his  fathers." — Rev. 
B.  DICKINSON. 


7 


PREFACE. 

From  the  ardent  opposition  made  to  the  Colonization  Society 
by  some  of  our  white  citizens,  and  by  a  number  of  the  free  coloured 
population,  it  might  be  supposed,  by  those  unacquainted  with  the 
nature  of  the  case,  that  the  emigrants  were  absolutely  pressed, 
like  British  seamen,  and  hurried  off  against  their  inclinations — 
that  they  were  here  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  solid  advantages  of 
society,  each  man  "sitting  under  his  own  vine  and  his  fig  tree, 
and  none  to  make  him  afraid" — that  in  Liberia  they  were  to  be  in 
some  degree  enslaved — and  that  the  climate  was  pestilential  and 
the  soil  sterile  and  ungrateful.  Were  this  a  true  picture  of  the 
case,  the  opposition  to  the  society  could  not  be  more  ardent  or 
zealous. 

I  have  treated  on  the  situation  of  the  free  coloured  population 
of  this  country,  (p.  27)  and  shall  not  therefore  refer  to  it  here:  but  so 
far  as  regards  the  colony  at  Liberia,  it  is  proved,  by  evidence 
of  the  most  undeniable  character — of  American  Captains,  Kenne 
dy,  Sherman,  Nicholson,  and  Abels;  by  that  of  Mr.  Devany,  a  co 
loured  man,  High  Sheriff  of  Liberia,  who  had  been  in  the  co 
lony  for  six  years,  made  a  handsome  fortune,  and  returned  to  this 
country  to  visit  his  friends  and  relations ; — and  more  especially 
by  that  of  a  committee  of  the  colonists  at  Monrovia,  appointed  to 
draw  up  an  address  to  their  brethren  in  this  country;  that  the  pro 
ject  of  colonization  has  fully  realized,  and  not  merely  realized,  but 
exceeded  the  most  sanguine  expectations  formed  of  it  by  its  ar 
dent  supporters ;  that  the  contrast  between  the  situation  of  the 
colonists  and  that  of  their  brethren  in  this  country  is  immensely 
in  favour  of  the  former;  and  that  the  condition  of  the  most  favoured 
of  the  free  coloured  population  here,  is  inferior  in  many  important 
particulars  to  that  of  the  great  mass  of  the  colonists,  any  one  of 
whom  may,  by  good  behaviour,  aspire  to  the  highest  office  in  the 
colony,  and  not  one  of  whom  can  be  taxed  but  by  his  representa 
tives,  in  whose  election  he  has  as  free  a  voice  as  Mr.  Madison  or 
Mr.  Adams  has  in  the  election  of  state  and  United  States'  officers. 

It  is,  therefore,  difficult  to  conceive  what  good  purpose  can  be 
answered  by  the  opposition  to  the  plan  of  colonization,  or  by  what 
motive  its  opposers  can  be  influenced. 

There  are  three  strong  points  of  view  in  which  this  subject  may 
be  considered,  which  must  gain  for  colonization  the  zealous  and 
efficient  support  of  every  man,  white  or  coloured,  who  is  not 
under  the  dominion  of  inveterate  and  incurable  prejudice.  I  omit 
other  important  points  which  might  be  mooted. 

I.  The  colony  has  arrested   the  progress  of  the  nefarious  and 
accursed  slave  trade  in  its  neighbourhood ;  destroyed  some  slave 
factories,  and  liberated  a  number  of  slaves  who  were  on  the  point 
of  being  transported  across  the  Atlantic,  subject  to  all  the  hor 
rors  of  the  passage,  and,  if  they  escaped  with  life,  to  the  horrors  of 
perpetual  slavery;  and  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  at  no  distant 
day  the  trade  will  be  annihilated  on  the  whole  of  the  western 
coast  of  Africa. 

II.  It  has  been  the  means  of  securing  the  emancipation  of  hun 
dreds  of  slaves,  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  who  are 


IV 


now  in  a  genial  climate,  enjoying  the  luxury  of  freedom  with  all 
its  attendant  blessings  ;  and,  from  the  present  disposition  of  the 
citizens  of  some  of  the  slave  states,  particularly  Virginia,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  thousands  will  be  emancipated  as  fast  as  means  of 
transportation  can  be  procured. 

III.  Jt  has  commenced  spreading  the  blessings  of  civilization, 
morals,  and  religion  among  the  natives  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  colony,  whom  it  has  taught  to  depend  on  honest  industry  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  instead  of  the  demoniac  operation  of 
setting  fire  to  towns  and  villages,  for  the  horrible  purpose  of 
seizing  the  wretched  fugitives  flying  from  the  flames,  which  was 
their  former  occupation. 

Now  I  freely  appeal  to  Mr.  Garrison,  and  Mr.  Lundy,  the  most 
formidable  opposers  of  colonization,  and  to  their  friends,  and  beg 
them  to  lay  their  hands  on  their  hearts,  and  answer  in  the  presence 
of  their  Maker,  if  any  one  of  those  objects  does  not  repay  tenfold 
the  sacrifice  which  the  whole  have  cost  ? 

Among  the  objections — how  easy  to  make  plausible  objections! — 
offered  to  the  colonization  plan,  one  is,  that  considering  the  im 
mense  number  of  the  coloured  people  in  this  country,  about  2,400, 
000,  it  is  impossible  to  make  any  serious  impression  on  them  by 
emigration,  especially  as  the  colony  at  present,  after  twelve  years 
existence,  contains  but  2,000  souls.  Let  us  examine  this  objection. 

The  annual  increase,  as  I  have  shown,  is  about  60,000.  The 
expense  to  the  government,  or  the  society,  will  probably  be  $25 
per  head  for  all  the  emigrants  large  and  small  (taking  into  conside 
ration  those  who  pay,  or  whose  masters  will  pay  their  passage),  or 
about  $1,500,000  per  ann.  for  that  number.  This  sum,  provided 
the  subject  were  cordially  taken  up  by  the  state  legislatures  and 
congress,  would  not  be  attended  with  the  slightest  difficulty.  In 
deed,  if  encountered  with  the  zeal  which  its  importance  demands, 
twice  the  sum  could  be  easily  raised.  But  then  the  objectors 
emphatically  demand,  how  shall  we  provide  for  the  transportation 
of  such  a  number ! 

It  appears  from  Walsh's  Sketches  of  Brazil  that  in  the  year 
1828,  there  were  no  less  than  43,000  slaves  received  in  the  single 
port  of  Rio  de  Janeiro — and  it  is  fairly  presumable  that  an  equal 
number  were  received  at  the  Havanna  and  other  ports — 
making,  with  those  that  died  on  board,  at  least  100,000  ravished 
from  their  native  land  in  one  year.  If  the  wretches  engaged  in 
that  nefarious  traffic  could  find  means  of  transporting  100,000  hu 
man  beings  in  one  year  across  the  Atlantic,  surely  this  powerful 
nation  could,  to  accomplish  the  great  objects  in  view,  and  to 
rescue  itself  by  degrees  from  the  odious  stain  of  slavery,  accomplish 
the  conveyance  of  60,  or  even  100,000  to  a  land  where  they  will 
be  "  lords  of  the  soil."  60  or  70,000  persons  have  emigrated 
in  one  year  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

It  is  asked  how  shall  prevision  be  made  for  such  a  number  in 
Liberia  ?  they  will  perish  for  want  of  sustenance. 

Can  there  exist  any  fear  on  this  subject,  when  the  soil  of  Libe 
ria  produces  two  regular  crops  a  year,  with  the  most  imperfect 

PMlarPa       A  ™.;i    O 


LETTERS,  &c. 


LETTER  I. 

The  Southampton  Massacre. — Difference  between  the  State  of 
Slavery  in  Greece  and  Rome,  and  in  the  United  States. — 
Various  Plans  of  Colonization. — Objects  of  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society. 

TO  THE  HON.  CHARLES  F.  MERCER. 

,  DEAR  SIR — 

The  tragical  issue  of  the  insurrection  in  Southampton,  in  which 
above  sixty  whites-  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  vengeance  of  their  slaves, 
and  subsequently  to  which  a  great  number  of  slaves  suffered  the 
penalties  of  the  violated  laws  of  the  state,  has  awakened  the  slave 
states  out  of  their  slumbers,  and  excited  considerable  attention  to 
wards  our  coloured  population,  and  the  awful  consequences  like 
ly  to  ensue,  sooner  or  later,  from  the  admixture  of  two  hetero 
geneous  castes  in  the  country,  without  the  least  probability,  at  any 
future  period,  however  remote,  of  an  amalgamation  between  them, 
in  consequence  of  the  diversity  of  colour. 

In  this  respect  our  situation  is  widely  different  from  that  of 
Greece  or  Rome.  The  great  mass  of  tfreir  slaves  were  of  the 
same  colour  as  their  masters,  and  a  complete  amalgamation  might 
take  place  in  a  generation  or  two.  Against  such  a  result  there  is 
in  this  country  an  insuperable  barrier. 

This  subject  had  occupied  the  attention  of  some  of  the  wisest 
and  best  men  of  the  country  for  above  half  a  century.  Several  at 
tempts  were  made  in  different  provinces  to  prevent  the  importation 
of  slaves,  and  laws  were  passed  for  the  purpose,  but  they  were  uni 
formly  rejected  by  the  governors,  under  instructions  from  the 
British  privy  council — or  by  that  council  when  the  acts  were  trans 
mitted  for  royal  approbation.  So  early  as  1772,  the  house  of  bur 
gesses  of  Virginia  unanimously  agreed  upon  an  address  to  the  king 
of  Great  Britain,  praying  him  "  to  remove  those  restraints  on  the 
governors  of  the  colony,  which  inhibited  them  from  assenting  to 
such  laws  as  might  check  so  very  pernicious  a  commerce." 

"The  importation  of  slaves  into  the  colonies,  from  the  coasts  of  Africa,  has  long- 
been  considered  as  a  trade  of  great  inhumanity,  and  under  its  encouragement,  we 
have  too  much  reason  to  fear,  WILL  ENDANGEH  THE  VERT  EXISTENCE  OF  YOUR  MA 
JESTY'S  AMERICAN  DOMINIONS. 

"  We  are  sensible  that  some  of  your  majesty's  subjects  in  Great  Britain  may  reap 
emolument  from  this  sort  of  traffic;  bnt  when  we  consider  that  it  greatly  retards  the 
settlement  of  the  colonies  with  mort,  white  inhabitants,  mid  may  in  time  have  the 
most  destructive  influence,  we  presume  to  hope  that  the  interests  of  a  few  will  be 


3875S6 


(     6     ) 

disregarded,  \vhen  placed  in  competition  with  the  security  and  happiness  of  such 
numbers  of  your  majesty's  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects." 

This  and  various  other  efforts  were  entirely  fruitless — the  trade 
remained  unrestrained  until  the  declaration  of  independence,  when 
Virginia  and  some  other  states  prohibited  it  altogether. 

Unfortunately  the  sound  sentiments  displayed  by  the  burgesses 
of  Virginia  in  1772,  were  forgotten,  or  had  lost  their  influence  in 
1787,  when  the  federal  constitution  was  formed — for  by  that  in 
strument  congress  was  prohibited  from  passing  laws  to  prevent 
the  importation  of  slaves  for  twenty  years.  A  courtly  style  was 
employed.  It  was  not  thought  proper  to  introduce  the  word 
*<  slaves7' — (t  A  rose  by  any  other  name  would  smell  as  sweet." 

"  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  states  now  existing, 
shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  congress  prior  to  the 
year  1808;  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding 
ten  dollars  for  each  person." 

In  consequence  of  this  unfortunate  constitutional  legitimation 
of  the  slave  trade,  it  was  carried  on  for  twenty  years  on  a  large  scale, 
and  sowed  a  seed  which  has  germinated  with  fatal  fertility,  and 
threatens  a  heavy  retribution. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  best  means  of  averting  or  at  least  of  mi 
tigating  the  evil  to  be  dreaded  from  the  existence  among  us  of  a 
class  of  people,  who,  although  free,  and  therefore  righteously  en 
titled  to  all  the  advantages  and  privileges  of  freemen,  were  never 
theless,  in  a  great  degree,  debarred  from  them  by  the  inexorable 
force  of  public  prejudice,  and,  in  most  of  the  states,  were  subject 
to  rules  and  regulations  and  proscriptions,  of  the  most  oppressive 
and  galling  kind — in  this  discussion,  I  say,  public  opinion  settled 
down  in  favour  of  an  extensive  system  of  colonization. 

On  the  subject  of  the  location,  there  was  not  the  same  degree  of 
unanimity.  Some  of  our  citizens  were  in  favour  of  selecting  a 
portion  of  the  vacant  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  setting  it 
apart  for  the  purpose.  Others  were,  and  some  still  are,  for 
making  an  arrangement  with  the  government  of  Mexico,  and  send 
ing  the  class  in  question  to  Texas.  Others,  again,  advocated  a  set 
tlement  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  as  the  natale  solum  of  their 
ancestors,  and  as  the  climate  is  better  suited  to  the  great  majority 
of  the  coloured  people  of  this  country.  The  last  plan  was  finally 
adopted. 

The  objects  of  the  friends  of  colonization  are — 

I.  To  rescue  the  free  coloured  people  from  the  disqualifications, 
the  degradation,  and  the  proscription  to  which  they  are  exposed 
in  the  United  States. 

II.  To  place  them  in  a  country  where  they  may  enjoy  the  be 
nefits  of  free  government,  with  all  the  blessings  which  it  brings 
in  its  train. 

III.  To  avert  the  dangers  of  a  dreadful  collision  at  a  future  day 
of  the  two  castes,  which  must  inevitably  be  objects  of  mutual  jea 
lousy  to  each  other. 


(    7     ) 

IV.  To  spread  civilization,  sound  morals  and  religion  through 
out  the  vast  continent  of  Africa,  at  present  sunk  in  the  lowest  and 
most  hideous  state  of  barbarism. 

V.  And  though  last,  not  least,  to  afford  slave  owners  who  are 
conscientiously  scrupulous  about  holding  human  beings  in  bondage, 
an  asylum  to  which  they  may  send  their  manumitted  slaves. 

The  last  item  has  recently  assumed  a  greatly  increased  impor 
tance.  Manumissions  are  prohibited  in  some  of  the  slave  states, 
unless  the  parties  remove  beyond  their  boundaries;  and  the  en 
trance  of  free  negroes  into  others,  is  prohibited;  so  that  manu 
missions,  without  deportation,  appear  to  be  almost  wholly  at  an  end. 
It  remains  to  be  seen,  in  the  sequel,  from  the  results  that  have  al 
ready  taken  place,  how  far  the  benign  purposes  of  the  society  are 
likely  to  be  accomplished. 

With  such  noble  objects  in  view,  it  is  truly  wonderful,  that  al 
though  the  society  has  been  in  existence  for  twelve  years,  the  whole 
of  the  contributions  public  and  private,  (except  the  support  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  of  negroes  captured  from  slave  tra 
ders)  received  by  the  society  for  carrying  them  into  effect,  has  been 
but  about  $125,000,  not  a  cent  ahead  for  the  entire  population  of 
the  most  prosperous  nation  in  the  world ;  a  nation,  moreover,  in 
which  other  objects,  some  of  them  of  inferior  usefulness,  are  most 
liberally  supported!  This  must  have  arisen  from  an  impression  en 
tertained  by  many,  that  the  scheme  is  absolutely  impracticable. 
Hence  many  liberal  individuals  have  wholly  withheld  their  con 
tributions.  Of  this  opinion  was  the  writer  of  these  letters,  at  an 
early  stage  of  the  existence  of  the  society.  He  regarded  it  as  one 
of  the  wildest  projects  ever  conceived  by  enlightened  men;  and 
therefore,  in  the  language  of  Sterne  respecting  the  Monk,  he  was 
"predetermined  not  to  give  them  a  single  sous."  Mature  reflec 
tion  has,  however,  convinced  him  of  his  error:  he  is  now  satisfied 
that  the  project  is  not  more  benignant  and  beneficent,  than  practica 
ble,  provided  the  general  and  state  governments,  and  public  spirited 
individuals  yield  it  a  support  in  any  degree  commensurate  with  its 
importance. 

In  the  hope  of  converting  others,  as  he  himself  has  been  con 
verted,  he  believes  he  may  render  an  acceptable  service  to  his 
country,  by  placing  before  the  public,  in  plain,  unadorned  lan 
guage,  the  leading  features  of  the  case,  under  the  following  pro 
minent  heads. 

1.  The  origin  of  the  society. 

2.  The  progress  of  the  colony  compared  with  that  of  Massachu 
setts,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 

3.  The  increase  of  the  coloured  population,  free  and  slaves. 

4.  The  declarations  of  legislatures  and  other  public  bodies  in 
favour  of  the  society. 

5.  The  manumission  of  slaves  in  this  country. 

6.  The  situation  and  future  prospects  of  the  colonists  at  Mon 
rovia,  Caldwell,  &c. 

7.  Their  moral  and  religious  character. 


(     8     ) 

8.  The  soil,  climate,  productions,  and  commerce  of  Liberia 

9.  The  disadvantages  under  which  the  free  coloured  population 
labour  in  this  country,  and  those  resulting  to  the  white  population 
from  the  existence  of  slavery. 

10.  The  character  of  the  natives  of  Africa  before  the  irruption 
of  the  barbarians. 

11.  The  salutary  effects  of  the  colony  in  repressing  the  slave 
trade,  with  a  slight  sketch  of  that  nefarious  traffic. 

This,  you  will  say,  is  a  wide  field.  I  agree  with  you.  How 
far  I  shall  have  succeeded  in  my  attempt,  must  be  decided  when  I 
reach  the  close  of  my  labours,  the  "  Finis." 

Yours,  &c.  M.  C. 

Philadelphia,  Jlpril  8,  1832. 


LETTER  II. 

Early  plans  of  Colonization. — Mr.  Jefferson 's  and  Mr.  Thorn 
ton's. — Resolve  of  the  Legislature  of  Virginia. — Ineffectual 
Negotiations. — Formation  of  the  Colonization  Society. 

DEAR  SIR — 

As  early  as  the  year  1777,  Mr.  Jefferson  formed  a  plan  for  co 
lonizing  the  free  coloured  population  of  the  United  States.  The 
particulars  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain.  There  is  reason  to  be 
lieve,  that  he  proposed  the  settlement  in  some  of  the  western  va 
cant  lands.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  project  proved  an  abortion, 
owing  partly  to  the  distractions  and  difficulties  of  the  war,  and 
partly  to  the  novelty  and  magnitude  of  the  undertaking.  How 
much  to  be  deplored  the  result!  Had  he  succeeded,  what  a  source 
of  danger  and  disaster  would  have  been  dried  up  for  ever ! 

In  the  year  1787,  Dr.  Thornton,  of  Washington,  formed  a  plan 
for  establishing  a  colony  of  that  population  on  the  western  coast  of 
Africa,  and  published  an  address  to  those  residing  in  Massachusetts 
and  Rhode  Island,  inviting  them  to  accompany  him.  A  sufficient 
number  of  them  agreed  to  go,  and  were  prepared  for  the  expedi 
tion.  But  this  project  likewise  failed  for  want  of  funds.  The 
public  mind  was  not  then  prepared  for  affording  pecuniary  support. 
About  the  year  1800  or  1801,  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  in  se 
cret  session,  instructed  Mr.  Monroe,  then  governor  of  the  state,  to 
apply  to  the  president  of  the  United  States,  and  urge  him  to  insti 
tute  negotiations  with  some  of  the  powers  of  Europe  possessed  of 
colonies  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  to  grant  an  asylum  to  which  our 
emancipated  negroes  might  be  sent.  Mr.  Jefferson  opened  a  ne 
gotiation  with  the  Sierra  Leone  Company,  for  the  purpose,  but 
without  success.  He  subsequently  applied  to  the  government  of 
Portugal,  and  equally  failed.  The  project  was  then  abandoned  as 
hopeless. 

In  the  session  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  in  1816,  the  subject 


was  again  brought  forward,  and  the  following  resolution  was  adopted 
by  a  large  majority. 

"  Whereas  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  have  repeatedly  sought  to  obtain 
an  asylum,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  for  such  persons  of  colour  as  had 
been  or  might  be  emancipated  under  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth,  but  have 
hitherto  found  all  their  efforts  frustrated,  either  by  the  disturbed  state  of  other  na 
tions,  or  domestic  causes  equally  unpropitious  to  its  success : 

"They  now  avail  themselves  of  a  period  when  peace  has  healed  the  wounds  of 
humanity,  and  the  principal  nations  of  Europe  have  concurred  with  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  in  abolishing  the  African  Slave  Trade  (a  traffic  which  this 
Commonwealth,  both  before  and  since  the  revolution,  zealously  sought  to  extermi 
nate,)  to  renew  this  effort,  and  do  therefore, — 

"Resolve,  That  the  executive  be  requested  to  correspond  with  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  territory  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  or 
at  some  other  place,  not  within  any  of  the  states  or  territorial  governments  of  the 
United  States,  to  serve  as  an  asylum  for  such  persons  of  colour  as  are  now  free,  and 
may  desire  the  same,  and  for  those  who  may  hereafter  be  emancipated  within  this 
Commonwealth ;  and  that  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of  this  state  in  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States,  be  requested  to  exert  their  best  efforts  to  aid  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  in  the  attainment  of  the  above  objects. 

"Provided,  That  no  contract  or  arrangement  respecting  such  territory  shall  be 
obligatory  on  this  Commonwealth,  until  ratified  by  the  legislature." 

It  thus  appears  that  the  scheme  of  colonization  which  is  now 
violently  denounced  in  some  of  the  southern  papers,  as  a  conspi 
racy  against  the  rights  and  property  of  the  slave  holders,  and  forms 
one  of  the  means  whereby  the  dangerous  effervescence  in  South 
Carolina  has  been  excited,  originated  with  the  great  leading  slave 
state,  which  possesses  more  than  a  third  of  all  the  slaves  in  the  five 
original  slave  states. 

At  length  the  time  arrived  when  the  country  was  ripe  for  the 
establishment  of  the  society.  In  December,  1816,  a  considerable 
number  of  citizens,  very  nearly  all  slave  holders,  met  at  Washington, 
to  take  the  subject  into  consideration.  Bushrod  Washington  pre 
sided.  Long  debates  ensued.  Henry  Clay,  John  Randolph,  of 
Roanoke,  and  various  other  powerful  orators,  addressed  the  meet 
ing  in  support  of  the  plan.  Mr.  Randolph  observed,  that 

"  If  a  place  could  be  provided  for  their  reception,  and  a  mode  of  sending  them 
hence,  there  were  hundreds,  nay,  thousands,  who  would,  by  manumitting  their 
slaves,  relieve  themselves  from  the  cares  attendant  on  their  possession !" 

At  this  meeting,  a  letter  from  Mr.  Jefferson,  dated  in  1811,  was 
read,  in  which,  having  mentioned  his  negotiations  with  the  Sierra 
Leone  Company  and  Portugal,  he  adds — 

"  Indeed  nothing  is  more  to  be  wished,  than  that  the  United  States  would  them 
selves  undertake  to  make  such  an  establishment  on  the  coast  of  Africa."* 

A  constitution  was  formed ;  Bushrod  Washington  was  appointed 
president,  and  Messrs.  Crawford,  Clay,  Rutgers,  Howard,  &c.,  vice 
presidents.  An  eloquent  memorial  to  Congress  was  drawn  up, 
which  Mr.  Randolph  undertook  to  present  to  that  body. 

Yours,  &c.  M.  C. 
Philadelphia,  April  10,  1832. 

*  African  Repository,  vol.  VI.  page  199. 


LETTER  III. 

Jlgents  sent  to  Africa  to  explore  the  coast  for  a  suitable  situ~ 
ation. — Land  purchased. — Conflict  with  the  natives. — 
Agent  seized  by  them.  — Monrovia  besieged. — In  imminent 
danger. — Colonists  triumph.  — Peace. 

DEAR  SIR — 

In  November,  1819,  the  society  appointed  two  agents,  the  Rev. 
S.  J.  Mills  and  Mr.  Ebenezer  Burgess,  to  proceed  to  the  coast  of 
Africa,  via  England,  to  make  the  necessary  explorations  and  in 
quiries  as  to  a  suitable  location  for  a  settlement.  The  object  of 
landing  in  England,  was  to  procure  letters  to  the  leading  men  at 
Sierra  Leone,  and  also  to  gain  such  general  information  respecting 
the  coast  of  Africa  as  might  be  attainable.  They  succeeded  in  both 
objects,  and  procured,  moreover,  recommendations  from  the  Court 
of  Copenhagen,  to  its  colonial  authorities  on  the  coast.  They  sailed 
from  the  Downs  on  the  7th  of  February,  1820,  and  arrived  at  Si 
erra  Leone  early  in  March.  They  visited  all  the  ports  from  Sierra 
Leone  to  Sherboro.  At  this  last  place  they  found  a  small  co 
lony  of  coloured  people  settled  by  John  Kizel,  a  South  Carolina 
slave,  who  had  joined  the  British  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and 
at  its  close  was  taken  to  Nova  Scotia,  from  whence  he  sailed 
with  a  number  of  his  countrymen  to  Africa,  where  he  established 
this  small  settlement,  which  was,  at  the  arrival  of  the  agents,  in  a 
prosperous  situation.  By  Kizel  and  his  people,  the  agents  were 
Idndly  and  hospitably  received.  After  gaining  all  the  information 
necessary  for  their  purpose,  they  sailed  from  the  coast  in  May,  and 
arrived  in  the  United  States  in  the  following  month.  Mr.  Mills 
died  on  the  passage. 

The  slave  trade  having  been  abolished  by  Congress,  and  the 
American  vessels  of  war  being  authorized  to  capture  all  vessels  en 
gaged  in  it,  under  the  American  flag,  one  of  them  was  taken,  and  the 
liberated  Africans  were  brought  to  this  country,  landed  in  Georgia, 
and  were  about  to  be  sold  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  that  state.  A  clause 
in  the  act  directed  the  constituted  authorities  to  deliver  such  slaves 
up  to  the  Colonization  Society,  on  payment  of  all  expenses  incurred 
since  their  capture  and  condemnation.  With  this  condition  the 
society  complied,  and  received  the  slaves,  about  thirty  in  number. 

To  guard  against  a  recurrence  of  a  similar  state  of  things,  Con 
gress,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1819,  passed  an  act  authorising  the 
president  "  to  make  such  rules  and  regulations  as  he  might  deem 
expedient  for  the  safe  keeping,  support,  and  removal  of  slaves  cap 
tured  in  vessels  engaged  in  the  slave  trade;  and  to  appoint  a  proper 
person  or  persons,  as  agent  or  agents  on  the  coast  of  Africa  for  re 
ceiving  them." 

It  was  obvious  that  the  objects  of  the  government  could  be  bet 
ter  accomplished  in  conjunction  with  the  Colonization  Society, 


(  11  ) 

than  separately.  Accordingly,  in  the  year  1820  the  Elizabeth  was 
chartered,  and  took  out  to  the  coast  two  agents  of  the  government, 
one  from  the  society,  and  about  eighty  emigrants.  The  latter  were 
to  be  employed  at  the  expense  of  the  government,  in  preparing 
accommodations  for  the  reception  of  recaptured  negroes. 

They  were  in  the  outset  extremely  unfortunate.  They  found 
it  impossible  to  obtain  a  suitable  place,  and  "  were  compelled,  by 
a  variety  of  untoward  circumstances,  to  make  a  temporary  estab 
lishment  in  the  low,  unhealthy  island  of  Sherbro."  Here  they 
were  detained  some  time  endeavouring  to  purchase  land — and 
were  attacked  by  fatal  diseases  which  carried  off  the  three  agents, 
and  twenty  of  the  colonists. 

The  colony  was  in  a  lamentable  state  in  the  spring  of  1821. 
Great  confusion  and  want  of  subordination  prevailed,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  death  of  the  agents.  At  that  time  four  new  ones  ar 
rived,  Messrs.  Andre\vs,  Wiltberger,  Winn,  and  Bacon;  the  two 
first  on  the  part  of  the  society,  and  the  others  on  that  of  the  United 
States.  They  brought  out  twenty-eight  emigrants — and  from  the 
difficulties  that  had  occurred  in  procuring  land,  they  proceeded 
with  the  old  and  new  hands  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Freetown, 
in  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone.  One  of  the  agents,  Mr.  Bacon, 
being  taken  sick,  returned  to  the  United  States.  Mr.  Andrews 
died  in  August,  and  Mr.  Winn  in  September* 

This  was  a  most  appalling  state  of  things,  and  would  have  dis 
couraged  ordinary  men  from  a  prosecution  of  the  scheme.  Fortu 
nately,  such  timid  counsels  did  not  prevail.  The  society  deter 
mined  to  persevere,  trusting  that  more  experience,  and  the  choice 
of  a  more  salubrious  situation  would  guard  against  a  repetition  of 
those  disasters. 

A  new  agent,  Dr.  Ayres,  was  appointed,  whb,  with  lieutenant 
Stockton,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  sailed  in  November, 
1821,  and  arrived  on  the  coast  of  Africa  in  December.  On  a  careful 
examination  of  the  coast,  they  purchased  the  country  called  Mont- 
serado,  where  the  colony  is  now  settled.  The  price  agreed  upon, 
was  three  hundred  dollars,  payable  in  powder  and  ball,  fire  arms, 
tobacco,  clothing,  &c. 

The  Africans  who  had  been  landed  at  Sierra  Leone,  were  now 
sent  for,  and  affairs  wore  a  promising  aspect,  when  an  untoward 
circumstance  occurred,  which  threatened  a  total  failure  of  the 
scheme. 

A  small  slave  vessel,  prize  to  an  English  schooner,  with  thirty 
recaptured  slaves  on  board,  and  bound  for  Sierra  Leone,  put  in  for 
water  at  Perseverance  Island,  part  of  the  purchased  territory, 
where  the  colonists  were  stationed.  Having  unfortunately  parted 
her  cablershe  drifted  on  shore,  where  she  was  wrecked.  The  cus 
tom  of  the  coast  appropriates  to  the  petty  chief  on  whose  lands  a 
wreck  takes  place,  the  vessel  and  her  entire  contents.  King 
George,  on  whose  territory  the  accident  happened,  sent  his  people 
to  take  possession.  They  were  resisted  by  the  captain  and  crew, 
and  were  discomfited.  While  the  natives  were  preparing  to  renew 


(     12     ) 

the  attack,  the  captain  sent  to  the  agent  for  assistance,  which  was 
readily  granted.  A  boat  was  instantly  manned,  and  sent  to  his 
relief,  and  a  brass  field  piece  on  the  island  brought  to  bear  on  the 
assailants,  who  were  accordingly  put  to  the  rout,  with  the  loss  of 
two  killed  and  several  wounded.  The  crew  and  slaves  were 
brought  in  safety  to  land,  but  the  vessel  went  to  pieces,  and  most 
of  the  stores  and  property  was  lost. 

This  exasperated  the  natives,  not  merely  by  the  loss  of  their 
prey  and  their  men,  but  by  the  prospect  it  held  out  of  similar  in 
terferences  in  future.  They  anticipated  the  total  interruption  of 
the  slave  trade,  which  was  their  principal  dependence  for  pro 
curing  supplies. of  whatever  they  might  want.  They,  therefore, 
determined  to  extirpate  the  colony,  while  in  its  feeble  and  defence 
less  state. 

Only  part  of  the  goods  had  been  delivered,  and  the  natives  re 
fused  to  take  the  remainder,  and  insisted  on  returning  what  they 
had  received.  This,  of  course,  the  agent  refused,  and  they  had 
recourse  to  a  stratagem  to  accomplish  their  purpose.  They  in 
vited  him  to  an  amicable  conference,  and  as  soon  as  they  had  him 
in  their  power,  made  him  a  prisoner,  and  detained  him  until  he 
consented  to  take  the  articles  back.  Then  they  insisted  on  the 
colonists  withdrawing  from  the  settlement  altogether.  Pleading 
the  difficulty  of  removal,  for  want  of  a  place  to  which  to  retire, 
he  was  permitted  to  remain  till  he  could  make  a  purchase  of  land. 
Mean  while  he  made  an  appeal  to  Boatswain,  one  of  the  native  kings, 
who  enjoyed  a  sort  of  supremacy  among  them,  and  who,  on  hear 
ing  the  respective  allegations,  gave  an  award  in  favour  of  the  co 
lonists,  that  the  bargain  had  been  fair  on  both  sides;  that  there 
was  no  ground  for  rescinding  it;  and  therefore,  that  the  natives 
should  receive  the  stipulated  goods,  and  relinquish  the  purchased 
territory.  With  this  judgment  his  perfidious  regal  brethren  were 
forced  to  comply,  as  he  threatened  them  with  his  vengeance  if  they 
proved  refractory. 

They  brooded  over  the  discomfiture  in  the  field,  and  before  the 
arbiter,  and  determined,  on  his  departure  to  his  own  station,  to 
make  a  decisive  attempt  to  extirpate  the  colony.  The  colonists 
had  information  of  their  preparations,  and  made  every  exertion  to 
be  enabled  to  meet  them.  But  their  number  was  small,  having 
but  35  effective  men;  their  defences  were  incomplete;  they  had  but 
few  cannon;  and  the  agent,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ashmun,  a  man  of  ex 
traordinary  zeal,  ardour,  and  energy,  was  dangerously  ill;  but  had, 
nevertheless,'to  give  all  the  necessary  orders,  some  of  them  dictated 
from  his  bed,  as  he  had  no  adequate  substitute. 

The  enemy  consisted  of  a  body  of  eight  hundred  men,  and 
made  a  most  furious  attack  on  the  8th  of  November,  1822.  Un 
fortunately  one  pass  was  neglected  to  be  properly  defended,  and 
there  the  enemy  forced  an  entrance,  and  captured  one  of  the  guns, 
which  happily  they  knew  not  how  to  manage.  The  colony  was 
saved  by  their  want  of  discipline.  Had  they  pushed  forward, 
their  success  was  certain j  the  colonists  could  not  have  resisted;  but 


(     13     ) 

the  assailants  betook  themselves  to  plunder,  in  great  confusion :  this 
afforded  the  colonists  time  to  rally;  they  recaptured  the  gun;  and 
turned  it  on  the  enemy,  who  were  wedged  in  a  solid  mass.  Great 
destruction  took  place,  and  they  fled  in  utter  confusion;  it  was  sup 
posed  they  had  60  or  80  killed.  The  loss  on  the  other  side  was 
considerable,  three  men  and  one  woman  killed,  two  men  and  two 
women  severely  wounded,  and  seven  children  captured. 

The  colonists,  as  soon  as  the  enemy  had  disappeared,  immedi 
ately  began  to  complete  their  defences,  and  prepare  for  another 
attack,  which  they  understood  from  their  spies,  was  to  be  made 
with  a  greater  force  at  the  close  of  the  month.  The  attack  ac 
cordingly  commenced  on  the  30th,  with  1,500  assailants.  The 
fortifications  were  in  a  far  better  state  than  before,  but  the  number 
of  effective  men  less,  not  quite  30.  The  besiegers  were,  after  a 
long  and  ardent  struggle,  finally  defeated,  with  severe  loss.  The 
garrison  had  one  man  killed,  and  two  badly  wounded.  Mr.  Ash- 
mun's  services  were  invaluable,  and  were  the  means  of  saving  the 
place. 

His  Britannic  Majesty's  schooner,  Driver,  fortunately  arrived  in 
the  harbour  at  this  time,  and  the  commander  kindly  offered  his  ser 
vices  as  mediator,  which  were  gladly  accepted  by  both  parties,  as 
they  were  equally  tired  of  "  the  unprofitable  contest."  The 
native  princes  signed  an  engagement  "to  observe  an  unlimited 
truce  with  the  colony,  and  submit  all  their  differences  to  the  ar 
bitration  of  the  governor  of  Sierra  Leone." 

Since  that  period  the  colonists  have  not  been  molested.  They 
are  objects  of  respect  and  veneration,  and  their  friendship  is  sought 
after  by  all  the  petty  kings  in  their  neighbourhood. 

A  regular  form  of  government  was  adopted  in  1824,  which  pro 
duced  the  happiest  effects  on  the  morals  and  manners  of  the  Colo 
nists.  In  truth,  this  period  may  be  stated  as  almost  the  commence 
ment  of  the  establishment — the  four  preceding  years  having  been 
the  reign  of  anarchy  and  confusion. 

Yours,  &c.,  M.  C. 

Philadelphia,  rfpril  12,  1832. 


LETTER  IV. 

Increase  of  the,  coloured  Population. 

DEAR  SIR — 

The  dangers  arising  from  the  great  increase  of  a  caste  in  the  na 
tion,  who  are  by  custom  cut  off  from  all  chance  of  amalgamation 
with  their  fellow  beings  of  a  different  colour,  are  yearly  augment 
ing  by  the  natural  horror  of  slavery,  which  is  constantly  gaining 
strength  in  the  breasts  of  the  slaves;  by  the  unceasing  discussions  in 
our  papers,  especially  by  those  that  recently  took  place  in  the  legis 
lature  of  Virginia;  and  by  the  inflammatory  publications,  which  are 
clandestinely  spread  among  the  slaves,  in  spite  of  the  vigilance  and 

3 


(     14     ) 

denunciations  of  their  masters.  Circumstances,  too,  are  occasion 
ally  occurring  which  tend  to  fan  the  flame;  among  which  maybe 
reckoned  the  general  manumission  of  the  slaves  in  the  royal  co 
lonies  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  steady  and  persevering  efforts 
making  in  and  out  of  parliament  in  that  kingdom,  to  procure  a 
total  emancipation  in  all  the  British  colonies. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  subject,  it  is  only  necessary  to  cast  a 
furtive  glance  at  the  scenes  in  St.  Domingo,  and  the  various  in 
surrections  planned  and  attempted  in  this  country,  to  be  satisfied 
that  the  subject  has  not  hitherto  attracted  that  consideration  in  ge 
neral,  to  which  it  is  entitled  by  its  great  magnitude  and  importance. 
Although  there  is,  I  hope  and  trust,  no  great  danger  of  such  in 
surrectionary  attempts  proving  successful,  yet  they  may,  and  in  all 
probability  will,  produce  repetitions  of  the  horrible  scenes  which 
took  place  at  Southampton,  at  which  humanity  shudders. 

On  this  view  of  the  subject,  it  could  scarcely  have  been  antici-> 
pated,  that  the  scheme  proposed  by  the  Colonization  Society,  of 
removing  such  of  the  free  people  of  colour  as  are  disposed  to  emi 
grate  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  such  slaves  as  are  emancipa 
ted,  on  condition  of  removal  to  that  land,  should  have  met  with 
any  opposition.  It  is,  nevertheless  certain,  that  it  has  been  vio 
lently  opposed  in  two  quarters  where  it  might  have  rationally 
been  supposed  likely  to  meet  with  most  favour,  in  South  Carolina, 
and  among  some  of  the  free  blacks. 

We  shall  in  the  sequel  consider  the  opposition  of  the  free  blacks. 
At  present  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the  case  of  South  Caro 
lina.  That  state  is  by  far  more  particularly  interested  in  the  suc 
cess  of  the  scheme  than  any  other,  except  perhaps  Louisiana;  as 
these  are  the  only  two  states  in  which  the  slave  population  exceeds 
that  of  the  whites. 

Whites Slaves. 

131,181       107,094 
257,878      315,565 

Thus  it  appears  that  while  the  slaves  very  nearly  trebled  their 
numbers,  the  whites  did  not  quite  double  theirs. 

The  relative  situation  of  the  white  and  coloured  population  east 
of  the  Blue  Ridge,  in  Virginia,  places  this  subject  in  a  striking 
point  of  view.  It  appears  that  the  latter  have  gained  on  the  former 
in  forty  years,  106,176,  being  more  than  a  fourth  part  of  the  num 
ber  of  whites  at  present  in  that  part  of  the  country.  To  render 
this  case  more  remarkable,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  during  this 
period,  the  shipment  of  slaves  from  that  portion  of  Virginia  to 
the  more  southern  states,  has  been  carried  to  an  enormous  extent. 

Total.  Majority. 

Population  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  Whites.   Blacks.  Whites.    Blacks. 


Population  of  South  Carolina. 
In  1790 
1830 


In  1790 
1800 
1810 
1820 
1830 


314,523 
336,289 
338,553 

348,873 
375,935 

289,425 
339,293 
386,942 
413,928 
457,013 

25,098  I 


3,004 
48,389 
65,055 

81,078 


The  following  table  exhibits  the  increase  of  the  free  coloured 


(     15     ) 

people  in  the  United  States  from  the  year  1790  to  the  present  time. 

In  1830  I  319,467 


In  1790  I    59,481 
1800  I  110,073 


In  1810  I  186,446 
1820    233,530 


A  multiplication  nearly  six  fold  in  forty  years,  and  above  33  per 
cent,  in  the  last  ten  years. 

The  disparity  of  increase  of  the  white  and  .coloured  population 
in  the  five  original  slave  states,  deserves  attention. 


1790. 


1830. 


Maryland, 
Virginia, 
North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina, 
Georgia, 


Whites. 

Slaves. 

Whites. 

Slaves. 

208,650 
442,127 

288,204 
130,178 

52,886 

103,036 
292,627 
100,572 
107,094 
29,264 

291,093 
694,439 
472,433 

257,878 
296,614 

102,878 
469,724 
246,462 
315,665 
217,407 

1,122,045 

632,593 

2,012,457 

1,352,136 

It  thus  appears,  that  the  whites,  in  forty  years,  increased  only 
about  eighty  per  cent.;  while  the  slaves  increased  one  hundred  and 
twelve.  In  North  Carolina,  the  whites  increased  but  sixty-four 
per  cent. ;  while  the  slaves  increased  one  hundred  and  forty  five. 
The  number  of  slaves  in  Maryland  has  slightly  decreased,  partly 
by  manumissions,  and  partly  by  the  shipment  of  slaves  to  the  more 
southern  states,  both  of  which  have  taken  place  in  that  state  on  a 
large  scale.  The  free  coloured  population  in  1790,  was  only  8,042, 
whereas,  in  1830,  it  was  52,942. 

Table  of  the  number  of  coloured  people,  free  and  slaves,  in  the 
United  States,  at  the  various  periods  of  taking  the  census,  together 
with  a  statement  of  the  numbers  that  will  be  in  the  country  every 
decennial  census,  till  1880,  at  the  rate  of  increase  that  took  place 
between  1820  and  1830,  viz.,  at  35  per  cent. 

3,145,552 
4,246,495 
5,732,768 
7,739,236 
10,447,968 

Yours,  &c.,  M.  C. 
Philadelphia,  Jlpril  14,  1832. 


1790  -  -  - 
1800  -  -  - 
1810  -  -  - 
1820  -  -  - 
1830  -  -  - 

757,178 
1,006,912 
1,377,780 
1,771,658 
2,330,039 

1840 
1850 
1860 
1870 

1880 

LETTER  V. 

Expense  of  Passage — Manumissions. 
DEAR  SIR — 

It  remains  to  ascertain  as  nearly  as  possible,  the  expense  of  emi 
gration. 

The  passage  is  at  present  calculated  at  about  twenty  dollars,  and 
the  expense  for  the  maintenance  of  each  emigrant  for  six  months 
at  about  15  dollars;  making  all  together,  35  dollars. 


But  children  from  two  to  twelve  years  of  age  are  taken  at  half 
price,  and  below  two  years  free  of  charge;  allowing  for  a  due  pro 
portion  of  children,  thirty  dollars  will  be  a  tolerably  fair  estimate 
for  passage  and  support. 

Moreover,  when  the  situation  of  the  colony  becomes  better 
known,  and  the  prejudices  which  have  been  industriously  created 
against  it  are  done  away,  many  emigrants  will  defray  their  own 
expenses,  and  many  humane  and  charitable  masters  will,  as  has 
taken  place  already,  pay  the  passage  of  their  manumitted  slaves. 

Again.  For  a  long  time  to  come  there  will  be,  as  there  is  at 
present,  a  great  demand  in  the  colony  for  labourers,  and  able-bodied 
men  will,  immediately  on  landing,  be  able  to  procure  employment. 
In  a  late  report  it  is  stated,  that  of  the  whole  number  of  emigrants 
that  arrived  in  one  vessel,  only  seven  were  unemployed  in  twenty 
days.  Considering  all  these  circumstances,  we  might  be  autho 
rised  to  assume  an  average  of  twenty  dollars  for  each;  but  if  we 
err  at  all,  it  is  better  to  err  on  the  safe  side,  and  assume  twenty- 
five. 

It  appears  that  the  annual  increase  is  about  2$  per  cent.  In 
the  former  edition  we  erroneously  assumed  3i. 

Two  and  a  half  per  cent,  on  the  present  number  of  coloured  peo 
ple  in  the  United  States,  probably  2,400,000,  amounts  to  60,000 
annually.  Supposing  the  object  to  be  to  prevent  any  increase,  and 
that  therefore  provision  would  have  to  be  made  for  the  conveyance 
of  60,000  annually,  at  25  dollars  each,  the  expense  would  be 
$1,500,000. 

This  sum  is  large,  and  would  require  considerable  sacrifices. 
But  was  any  grand  object  ever  attained  without  great  sacrifices? 
We  were,  when  in  a  comparatively  feeble  state,  able  to  raise 
$100,000,000  in  a  year  and  a  half  for  the  support  of  a  war.  Our 
revenue  has  been,  for  years,  from  20  to  825,000,000,  and  the  na 
tional  debt  is  nearly  paid  off  The  direct  tax  of  the  state  of  Penn 
sylvania  in  the  year  1815  was  $730,958,  and  that  of  Virginia 
$738,036,  which  were  paid  without  any  oppression  of  the  citizens 
of  either.  And  surely  if  reason  and  common  sense  have  fair  play, 
it  will  not  be  difficult  to  procure  an  amendment  of  the  constitution 
(if  such  an  amendment  be  necessary,  which  is  doubted  by  many 
of  our  citizens)  by  three-fourths  of  the  states,  allowing  the  ap 
propriation  of  a  sum  necessary  for  the  purpose;  and  never  did  a 
nation  make  a  more  useful  appropriation. 

There  are  thirteen  non-slaveholding  States.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  these  would  ratify  such  an  amendment;  and  from  the 
prevalence  of  the  conviction  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North 
Carolina,  of  the  dangers  that  menace  the  country  from  this  source, 
their  immediate  concurrence  might  be  calculated  on,  and  the  con 
sent  of  two  more  would  probably  be  had  in  a  year  or  two,  as  the 
subject  came  to  be  more  fully  discussed,  and  of  consequence  better 
understood. 

Among  the  most  promising  and  encouraging  circumstances  at 
tending  the  career  of  this  society,  are  the  numerous  manumissions 


that  have  taken  place  in  almost  all  the  slave  states,  on  the  express 
condition  of  the  freed  people  being  sent  to  Liberia. 

These  manumissions  have  occurred  on  a  scale  that  the  most  san 
guine  friends  of  the  scheme  could  not  have  anticipated.  Entire 
families  have  been  blest  with  their  freedom,  from  the  most  pure 
motives,  a  conviction  of  the  immorality  and  injustice  of  slavery — • 
and  in  many  cases  ample  provision  has  been  made  for  the  expense 
of  their  passage,  and  in  some  for  their  support  in  Liberia.  They 
have  been  thus  released  from  the  debasement  and  degradation  of 
slavery,  and  sent  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  to  partake  of  all  the 
happiness  that  freedom  and  the  certainty  of  enjoying  all  the  fruits 
of  their  labour,  can  inspire. 

In  this  work  of -benevolence,  the  society  of  Friends,  as  in  so 
many  other  cases,  have  nobly  distinguished  themselves,  and  as 
sumed  a  prominent  attitude.  They  have,  in  North  Carolina,  li 
berated  no  less  than  652  slaves,  whom  they  had  under  their  care, 
besides,  as  says  my  authority,  an  unknown  number  of  children, 
husbands  and  wives,  connected  with  them  by  consanguinity. 
In  the  performance  of  these  acts  of  benevolence,  they  expended 
$12,759.  They  had  remaining  under  their  care  in  Dec.  1830, 
402  slaves,  for  whom  the  same  arrangements  were  to  be  made. 

It  holds  out  every  encouragement  to  the  Colonization  Society, 
that  the  applications  for  the  transportation  of  free  negroes,  and 
slaves  proposed  to  be  emancipated  on  condition  of  removal  to  Li 
beria,  far  exceed  its  means.  There  are  in  North  Carolina  and  the 
adjacent  states,  from  three  to  four  thousand  of  both  descriptions, 
ready  to  embark^  were  the  Society  in  a  situation  to  send  them 
away. 

Yours,  &c.,  M.  C. 

Philadelphia,  Jipril  14,  1832. 

LETTER  VI. 

Progress  of  Liberia. — -Inauspicious  commencement  in  Massa 
chusetts,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina. 

DEAR  SIR — 

A  brief  comparison  of  the  progress  made  in  Liberia,  with  the 
colonization  of  Massachusetts,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  will 
place  the  first  on  high  ground,  and  dispel  the  doubts  of  the  most 
sceptical  as  to  the  ultimate  success  of  this  magnificent  and  benig 
nant  undertaking,  if  it  receive  a  due  degree  of  support.  Let  it  be 
observed,  that  the  society  never  made  any  calculation  on  being  able 
to  accomplish  the  mighty  object  of  their  enterprise  by  private  re 
sources  alone.  That  would  have  been  extravagant  folly.  The 
success  must,  they  well  knew,  ultimately  depend  on  the  patron 
age  of  the  general  and  state  governments,  united ;  the  attainment 
of  which  they  confidently  hope  for.  The  society  has  done  its  duty 
in  proving  the  practicability  of  the  scheme,  and  will  steadily  con- 


(     18     ) 

tinue  its  exertions  on  a  scale  proportioned  to  the  means  placed  at 
its  disposal.     Further  than  this  it  never  promised. 

The  first  expedition  to  Liberia  took  place  in  the  year  1820,  but 
met  with  so  many  difficulties  and  embarrassments  at  the  commence 
ment,  that  it  was  not  until  the  year  1824,  that  any  order  or  good 
government  was  established.  All  that  has  been  accomplished 
worth  notice  has  taken  place  within  the  last  eight  years.  What, 
then,  is  the  state  of  the  case? 

There  are  now  above  2000  souls  settled,  contented,  happy  and 
prosperous;  enjoying  all  the  apparatus  of  a  regular  government; 
an  improving  agriculture;  a  prosperous  and  increasing  commerce; 
settlements  rapidly  extending;  a  large  territory,  possessed  of  extra 
ordinary  advantages  of  soil,  climate,  and  situation  for  commerce, 
fairly  and  honourably  purchased,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  on 
the  coast,  and  extending  into  the  interior  of  the  country  thirty  or 
forty  miles;  several  slave  factories  destroyed  and  the  slaves  liberated; 
the  slave  trade  abolished  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  settlement; 
the  circumjacent  aboriginals  tranquilized,  regarding  the  settlers 
with  reverence,  and  looking  up  to  them  for  protection  from  the  fero 
cious  violence  of  those  hostes  humani  generis,  the  slave  traders; 
the  attacks  of  some  hostile  petty  kings  repelled  in  1822,  in  the  very 
infancy  of  the  colony,  and  in  its  most  feeble  state;  education  care 
fully  attended  to;  the  children  of  the  natives  sent  in  for  instruction 
to  the  schools  of  the  colonists;  morals  and  religion  flourishing.  In  •£ 
word,  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  the  founders  of  the  coloi*^ 
more  than  realized,  at  this  very  early  stage  of  its  existence.  It 
may  be  doubted  whether  any  colony  ever  throve  more  completely 
in  so  short  a  space  of  time. 

One  feature  in  this  colony  most  honourably  distinguishes  it 
from  almost  every  other  colony  established  in  ancient  or  modern 
times.  Of  all  other  colonies  the  founders  were  impelled  by  a  desire 
of  conquest;  a  thirst  of  aggrandizement,  or  of  the  acquisition  of 
wealth.  With  no  such  views  were  the  founders  of  Liberia  actu 
ated.  Pure  benevolence  alone  inspired  the  illustrious  men,  the 
Finleys,  the  Thorntons,  the  Washingtons,  the  Mercers,  the  Ash- 
muns,  the  Caldwells,  who  projected  or  aided  in  the  formation  of 
the  society.  The  benefit  of  the  colonists  and  the  peace  and  hap 
piness  of  this  country  were  the  objects.  For  their  attainment 
they  devoted  their  time,  and  their  substance,  and  endured  the  scoffs 
and  ridicule  and  scorn  to  which  their  grand  enterprise,  in  common 
with  all  great  novel  undertakings  was  subjected. 

Let  us  now  cast  an  eye  on  the  early  results  of  the  attempts  at  the 
colonization  of  Massachusetts,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 

The  pilgrims  who  commenced  the  settlement  of  Massachusetts, 
landed  in  December,  1620,  to  the  number  of  120;  and  so  ill  were 
they  provided  with  provisions  and  clothing,  and  so  inclement  was 
the  season,  that  about  fifty  of  them  perished  in  the  course  of  the 
winter  and  the  ensuing  spring.  *  And  though  they  received  fre- 

*  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  Vol.  I.  page  94. 


quent  reinforcements,  one  half  of  the  whole  number  of  the  settlers 
perished  in  the  severe  winter  of  1629,  and  there  remained  but 
three  hundred  in  the  year  1630.* 

What  a  striking  contrast  Liberia  exhibits!  How  exhilarating 
and  encouraging  to  its  friends,  and  how  useful  a  lesson  does  it  hold 
out  to  its  enemies! 

But  inauspicious  as  the  incipient  operations  were  in  Massachu 
setts,  the  result  was  far  worse  for  25  years  in  Virginia.  The  first 
attempt  at  a  settlement  took  place  in  1585,  and  was  succeeded  for 
years  by  several  numerous  reinforcements,  which  in  a  great  meas 
ure  fell  victims  to  their  own  irregularities,  or  to  the  hostile  attacks 
of  the  Indians,  whom  those  irregularities  provoked.  In  1610,  the 
heroic  Smith,  the  father  of  the  colony,  brought  out  a  strong  rein 
forcement,  and  returned  home  for  further  supplies  of  men,  provi 
sions,  arms  and  ammunition,  leaving  the  colony,  as  he  supposed, 
secure  against  any  contingency,  however  adverse,  whether  from  the 
severity  of  the  weather,  or  the  assaults  of  the  Indians.  But  all  his 
calculations  were  miserably  defeated  by  the  worthlessness,  the  in 
subordination,  and  the  licentiousness  of  the  colonists. 

"  Smith  left  the  colony  furnished  with  three  ships,  good  fortifications,  twenty- 
five  pieces  of  cannon,  arms,  ammunition,  apparel,  commodities  for  trading-,  and  tools 
for  all  kinds  of  labour.  At  James  Town  there  were  nearly  sixty  houses.  The  set 
tlers  had  begun  to  plant  and  to  fortify  at  five  or  six  other  places.  The  number  of 
inhabitants  was  nearly  five  hundred. — They  had  just  gathered  in  their  Indian  har 
vest,  and  besides,  had  considerable  provision  in  their  stores.  They  had  between 
five  and  six  hundred  hogs,  an  equal  number  of  fowls,  some  goats  and  some  sheep. 
They  had  also  boats,  nets,  and  good  accommodations  for  fishing.  But  such  was  the 
sedition,  idleness,  and  dissipation  of  this  mad  people,  that  they  were  soon  reduced 
to  the  most  miserable  circumstances.  No  sooner  was  Capt.  Smith  gone,  than  the 
savages,  provoked  by  their  dissolute  practices,  and  encouraged  by  their  want  of 
government,  revolted,  hunted  and  slew  them  from  place  to  place.  Nansemond,  the 
plantation  at  the  falls,  and  all  the  out-settlements,  were  abandoned.  In  a  short  time, 
nearly  forty  of  the  company  were  cut  off  by  the  enemy.  Their  time  and  provisions 
were  consumed  in  riot ;  their  utensils  were  stolen  or  destroyed ;  their  hogs,  sheep, 
and  fowls  killed  and  carried  off  by  the  Indians.  The  sword  without,  famine  and 
sickness  within,  soon  made  among  them  surprising  destruction.  Within  the  term 
of  six  months,  of  their  whole  number,  sixty  only  survived.  These  were  the  most 
poor,  famishing  wretches,  subsisting  chiefly  on  herbs,  acorns,  and  berries.  Such 
was  the  famine,  that  they  fed  on  the  skins  of  their  dead  horses :  nay,  they  boiled 
and  ate  the  flesh  of  the  dead.  Indeed  they  were  reduced  to  such  extremity,  that 
had  they  not  been  relieved,  the  whole  colony  in  eight  or  ten  days  would  have  been 
extinct.  Such  are  the  dire  effects  of  idleness,  faction,  and  want  of  proper  subordi 
nation,  "f 

All  the  difficulties  and  disasters  that  have  occurred  in  Liberia 
from  the  commencement  of  the  settlement  till  the  present  time, 
fall  far  short  of  the  tithe  of  the  calamities  in  Virginia  in  six 
months. 

We  have  not  as  many  details  of  the  disasters  in  North  Carolina. 
Williamson,  its  historian,  is  very  brief  on  the  subject;  but  he  tells 
enough  to  prove  that  similar  disorders  and  similar  disasters  took 
place  there.  The  colony  was  commenced  in  1668,  and  in  1694, 
"  the  list  of  taxables  was  only  787,  being  little  more  than  half  the 
number  that  were  there  in  1 677,"  seventeen  years  before.  "  Such," 

*  Idem,  page  102.  f  Holmes's  Annals,  Vol.  I.  page  60. 


(     20      } 

says  the  writer,  "  were  the  baneful  effects  of  rapine,  anarchy  and 
idleness."* 

Yours,  &c.,  M.  C. 
Philadelphia,  Jlpril  18,  1832. 

LETTER  VII. 

Legislative  proceedings  in  favour  of  the  Society. — Connecticut,  Nezo- 
Jersey,  Kentucky,  Delaware,  Massachusetts,  Tennessee,  Indiana, 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland. — Synod  of  Utica. — General  Assem 
bly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. — Methodist  Episcopal  Conference. 

DEAR  SIR — 

The  Colonization  Society  has,  by  perseverance  and  by  the  in 
trinsic  merits  of  its  views,  at  length  "  won  golden  opinions"  from 
the  greater  part  of  the  nation.  The  Legislatures  of  fourteen  States, 
JVew-Hampshire,  Vermont,  Connecticut,  New- York,  New-Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Georgia,  Tennessee, 
Kentucky,  Ohio  and  Indiana,  have  passed  resolutions  distinctly 
recommending  the  scheme  of  colonizing  the  free  coloured  popula 
tion,  and  most  of  them  approving  of  the  objects  of  the  Society. 
Eleven  of  those  states  have  instructed  their  senators,  and  requested 
their  representatives  in  Congress  to  promote,  in  the  general  govern 
ment,  measures  for  removing  such  free  persons  of  colour  as  are  de 
sirous  of  emigrating  to  Africa.  And  "  nearly  all  the  ecclesiastical 
bodies  in  the  United  States  have,  by  resolutions,  fully  expressed 
their  opinion,  that  the  Society  merits  the  consideration  and  favour 
of  the  whole  Christian  community,  and  earnestly  recommend  it  to 
their  patronage."  1  annex  a  few  specimens: 

Resolve  of  the  Legislature  of 'Connecticut ,  1824. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  existence  of  Slavery  in  the  United  States  is  a  great  national 
evil,  and  that  the  people  and  the  States  ought  to  participate  in  the  burdens  and  du 
ties  of  removing-  it  by  all  just  and  prudent  measures,  which  may  be  adopted  with  a 
due  regard  to  their  internal  peace  and  mutual  harmony:  and  that  a  system  of  co 
lonization  under  the  patronage  of  the  General  Government,  may  reasonably  be 
deemed  conducive  to  so  desirable  an  object." 

Resolve  of  the  Legislature  of  New- Jersey,  1825. 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Legislature,  a  system  of  Foreign  Coloni 
zation,  with  correspondpnt  measures,  might  be  adopted,  that  would  in  due  time, 
effect  the  entire  emancipation  of  slaves  in  this  country,  and  furnish  an  asylum  for 
the  free  blacks,  without  any  violation  of  the  National  Compact,  or  infringement  of 
the  rights  of  individuals,-  and  that  such  a  system  should  be  predicated  upon  the 
principle,  that  the  evil  of  slavery  is  a  national  one,  and  that  the  People  and  the  States 
of  this  union  ought,  mutually,  to  participate  in  the  duties  and  burdens  of  removing 
it." 

Resolve  of  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  1827. 

"Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  That 
they  view  with  deep  and  friendly  interest,  the  exertions  of  the  American  Coloni 
zation  Society,  in  establishing  an  asylum  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  for  the  free  people 
of  colour  of  the  United  States;  and  that  the  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress 
from  this  state,  be  and  they  are  hereby  requested,  to  use  their  efforts  to  facilitate 

*  Williamson's  History  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  I.  page  144. 


the  removal  of  such  free  persons  of  colour  as  may  desire  to  emigrate  from  the  United 
States  to  the  colony  in  Africa,  and  to  insure  to  them  the  protection  and  patronage  of 
the  General  Government,  so  far  as  shall  be  deemed  consistent  with  the  safety  and 
interest  of  the  United  States." 

Of  the  Legislature  of  Delaware. 

"Resolved,  By  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  State  of  Delaware, 
in  General  Assembly  met,  That  it  is  requisite  for  our  prosperity,  and,  what  is  of 
more  important  concern,  essential  to  our  safety,  that  measures  should  be  taken,  for 
the  removal  from  this  country,  of  the  free  negroes  and  mulattoes. 

"  Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  approve  the  objects  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  and  consider  that  those  objects  deserve  public  support,  and 
that  they  ought  to  be  fostered  and  encouraged  by  the  National  Government,  and 
with  the  National  funds." 

Resolution  of  the  Senate  of  Pennsylvania,  1829. 
"Be  it  resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  Pennsylvania,  in 
General  Assembly  met,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  general  assembly,  the  American 
Colonization  Society  eminently  demands  the  support  of  the  national  government, 
and  that  our  Senators  be  directed,  and  the  Representatives  in  Congress  be  requested 
to  aid  the  same  by  all  proper  and  constitutional  means." 

Resolution  of  the  Legislature  of  Maryland,  1829. 

"Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  governor  be  requested  to  communicate  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  to  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Con 
gress,  the  opinion  of  the  general  assembly,  that  a  wise  and  provident  policy  suggests 
the  expediency,  on  the  part  of  our  national  government,  of  proofing  through  ne- 
gociation,  by  cession  or  purchase,  a  tract  of  country  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa, 
for  the  colonization  of  the  free  people  of  colour  of  the  United  States." 

Resolution  of  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

"Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  That  the  Senators 
in  Congress  from  this  State,  be,  and  they  are  hereby  requested  and  instructed ;  and 
that  the  Representatives  be,  and  they  are  hereby  requested,  to  give  to  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  any  aid  in  their  power,  in  devising  and  carrying1  into  ef 
fect  a  plan  which  may  have  for  its  object  the  colonizing,  in  some  distant  country, 
the  free  people  of  colour  who  are  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  or  within 
the  limits  of  any  of  their  Territories." 

Resolution  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  1829. 

"Be  it  resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  That  our  Sen 
ators  and  Representatives  in  Congress  be,  and  they  are  hereby  requested,  in  the 
name  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  to  solicit  the  assistance  of  the  general  government  to 
aid  the  laudable  designs  of  the  Colonization  Society,  in  such  manner  as  Congress  in 
its  wisdom  may  deem  expedient." 

Resolution  of  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts  in  1830. 

"Resolved,  That  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress,  be,  and  they  are 
hereby  requested,  in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  to  solicit  the  assist 
ance  of  the  general  government,  to  aid  the  laudable  designs  of  the  Colonization 
Society,  in  such  manner  as  Congress  in  its  wisdom  may  deem  expedient." 

Resolution  of  the  Synod  of  Utica,  N.  Y.  1829. 

"  Resolved,  That  all  clergymen  within  the  bounds  of  this  Synod,  be,  and  they 
hereby  are  most  earnestly  requested  to  take  up  collections  and  subscriptions  yearly, 
on  or  near  the  fourth  of  July,  as  a  proper  mode  of  aiding  the  funds  of  the  Coloni 
zation  Society ;  and  that  as  far  as  practicable,  they  enable  their  people  to  understand 
the  history,  design,  progress  and  prospects  of  the  Society." 

Resolutioji  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  1830. 
"  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  all  the  churches  under  the  care  of  the  ge 
neral  assembly,  to  take  up  collections  for  the  Colonization  Society,  on  the  next  4th 
of  July." 

4 


(     22     ) 

Resolution  of  the  Philadelphia  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 

Church,  1831. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Conference  highly  approving-  of  the  plan  and  purposes  of 
the  American  Colonization  Society,  do  recommend  that  collections  be  taken  up 
throughout  the  churches  within  our  bounds,  so  far  as  is  practicable,  on  the  4th  of 
July  next,  in  aid  of  the  funds  of  the  above  Society." 


LETTER  VIII. 

Situation  of  the  Colonists  in  Liberia. —  Testimony  of  a  Com 
mittee  in  Monrovia.  —  Of  Captain  Nicholson — Of  Captain 
Kennedy — Of  Captain  Sherman — Of  Captain  Mels. — Mo 
rals  and  Manners. 

DEAR  SIR — 

The  subject  discussed  in  this  letter  is  of  paramount  importance. 
Whatever  considerations  of  policy  in  regard  to  this  country, 
might  plead  in  favour  of  the  scheme  of  colonization,  it  would  not 
have  the  sanction  of  the  friends  of  mankind,  of  those  who  com 
miserate  the  depressed  situation  of  the  coloured  population  of  the 
United  States,  if  the  situation  of  the  emigrants  were  not  mani-  ' 
festly  improved.  To  place  this  vital  point  on  a  basis  as  firm  as 
the  rock  of  Gibraltar,  I  have  collected  what  may  be  regarded  as 
a  superfluity  of  testimony;  as  that  of  any  one  of  the  parties  would 
be  sufficient  to  remove  all  doubts  from  the  minds  of  all  persons 
open  to  conviction.  But  it  seemed  right  in  such  a  case,  "to  make 
assurance  doubly  sure." 

In  a  Circular  forwarded  by  a  Committee  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Monrovia,  to  their  brethren  in  the  United  States,  they  give  the 
following  description  of  their  situation: 

"  The  first  consideration  which  caused  our  voluntary  removal  to  this  country, 
and  the  object  we  regard  with  the  deepest  concern,  was  liberty — liberty  in  the  so 
ber,  simple,  but  complete  sense  of  the  word — not  a  licentious  liberty — nor  a  liberty 
without  government,  or  which  should  place  us  with  out  the  restraint  of  salutary  laws 
— but  that  liberty  of  speech,  action  and  conscience,  which  distinguishes  the  free 
enfranchised  citizens  of  a  free  state.  We  did  not  enjoy  that  freedom  in  our  native 
country;  and  from  causes,  which,  as  regards  ourselves,  we  shall  soon  forget  for 
ever,  we  were  certain,  it  was  not  there  attainable  for  our  children  or  ourselves.  *  * 
We  truly  declare,  that  our  expectations  and  hopes,  in  this  respect,  have  been  realized. 

"  Our  constitution  secures  to  us,  so  far  as  our  condition  allows,  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States;  and  these  rights  and  these 
privileges  are  ours:  We  are  proprietors  of  the  soil  we  live  on,  and  possess  the 
rights  of  freeholders.  Our  suffrages,  and,  what  is  of  more  importance,  our  senti 
ments  and  opinions,  have  their  due  weight  in  the  government  we  live  under.  Our 
laws  are  altogether  our  own;  they  grow  out  of  our  circumstances,  are  framed  for 
our  exclusive  benefit,  and  administered  either  by  officers  of  our  own  appointment, 
or  such  as  possess  our  confidence.  We  have  a  judiciary,  chosen  among  ourselves: 
we  serve  as  jurors  on  the  trial  of  others,  and  are  liable  ourselves  to  be  tried  only 
by  jurors  of  our  fellow-citizens.  We  have  all  that  is  meant  by  liberty  of  conscience. 
The  time  and  mode  of  worshipping  God,  as  prescribed  to  us  in  his  word,  and  dic 
tated  by  our  conscience,  we  are  not  only  free  to  follow,  but  are  protected  in  fol 
lowing. 

"Forming  a  community  of  our  own  in  the  land  of  our  forefathers,  having  the 
commerce,  and  soil,  and  resources  of  the  country  at  our  disposal;  we  know  nothing1 
of  that  debasing  inferiority  with  which  our  very  colour  stamped  us  in  America; 


(     23     ) 

there  is  nothing  here  to  create  the  feeling1  on  our  part — nothing1  to  cherish  the  feel 
ing-  of  superiority  in  the  minds  of  foreigners  who  visit  us.  It  is  this  moral  emanci 
pation — this  liberation  of  the  mind  from  worse  than  iron  fetters — that  repays  us  ten 
thousand  times  over  all  that  it  has  cost  us,  and  makes  us  grateful  to  God  and  our 
American  patrons,  for  the  happy  change  which  has  taken  place  in  our  situations." 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Captain  Nicholson,  of  the   United 
States  Navy,  who  spent  some  time  at  Liberia. 

"  The  appearance  of  all  the  colonists,  those  of  Monrovia,  as  well  as  those  of 
Caldwell,  indicated  more  than  contentment.  Their  manners  were  those  of  free 
men,  who  experienced  the  blessings  of  liberty,  and  appreciated  the  boon.  Many 
of  them  had  by  trade  acquired  a  competency.  *  *  *  The  children 
born  in  the  country  are  fine  looking,  and  I  presume  can  be  raised  as  easily  as  those 
of  the  natives.  All  the  colonists  with  whom  I  had  communication  (and  with  nearly 
the  whole  of  them  did  I  communicate,  in  person,  or  by  my  officers)  expressed  their 
decided  wish  to  remain  in  their  present  situation,  rather  than  return  again  to  the 
United  States.  I  cannot  give  you  better  evidence  of  the  prosperity  of  the  colony, 
than  by  mentioning,  that  eight  of  my  crew  (coloured  mechanics,}  after  going  ashore 
two  several  days,  applied  for  and  received  their  discharge,  in  order  to  remain  as 
permanent  settlers.  These  men  had  been  absent  from  their  country  upwards  of 
three  years,  and  had  among  them  nearly  two  thousand  dollars  in  clothes  and  money. 
Had  they  not  been  thoroughly  convinced  that  their  happiness  and  prosperity  would 
be  better  promoted  by  remaining-  among  their  free  brethren  in  Liberia,  they  would 
not  have  determined  on  so  momentous  a  step  as  quitting-  the  United  States,  perhaps 
forever,  where  they  all  had  left  friends  and  relatives." 

Extract  of  a  Letter  from  Captain  Kennedy,  of  the  Java,  ivho 
left  Monrovia,  Dec.  21th,  1830. 

Norfolk,  June  22,  1831. 

"  It  may  not  be  improper  to  observe,  that  my  inquiries  were  commenced  under 
auspices  very  unfavourable  to  the  practicability  of  the  scheme  of  the  society;  for 
while  I  trust,  I  yielded  unfeigned  acknowledgments  of  the  piety  and  purity  of 
purpose  which  governed  its  worthy  and  disinterested  projectors,  yet  the  vast  dif 
ficulties  attending  the  prosecution  of  their  labours,  and  the  very  problematical  re 
sults  in  the  want  of  success,  left  an  impression  on  my  mind  altogether  unfavoura 
ble  to  the  institution.  Under  these  impressions,  therefore,  I  commenced  my  inqui 
ries  with  great  caution.  I  sought  out  the  most  shrewd  and  intelligent  of  the  colo 
nists,  many  of  whom  were  personally  known  to  me,  and  by  long  and  wary  conver 
sations,  endeavoured  to  elicit  from  them  any  dissatisfaction  with  then*  situation,  if 
such  existed,  or  any  latent  desire  to  return  to  their  native  country.  Neither  of 
these  did  I  observe.  On  the  contrary,  I  thought  I  could  perceive  that  they  consi 
dered  that  they  had  started  into  a  new  existence ;  that,  disencumbered  of  the  mor 
tifying  relations  in  which  they  formerly  stood  in  society,  they  felt  themselves  proud 
in  their  attitude,  and  seemed  conscious,  that  while  they  were  the  founders  of  a  new 
empire,  they  were  prosecuting-  the  noble  purpose  of  the  regeneration  of  the  land 
of  their  fathers." 

Extract  of  a  Letter  from  Captain  Sherman,  of  the  Liberia, 
dated  Philadelphia,  May  10,  1830. 

"The  agent  is  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  colony,  and  the  physician  his  assistant. 
No  white  people  are  allowed  to  reside  in  the  colony,  for  the  purpose  of  trade,  or  of 
pursuing  any  mechanical  business,  such  being-  intended  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of 
the  coloured  people.  The  coloured  secretary,  collector  of  customs,  surveyor  and 
constables  are  appointed  by  the  agent.  The  port  agent,  sheriff,  treasurer  and  other 
officers,  are  elective,  and  all  the  offices,  except  that  of  agent  and  physician,  are 
filled  by  coloured  people. 

"  Two  native  kings  have  put  themselves  and  their  subjects,  supposed  to  amount  to  ! 
ten  thousand,  under  the  protection  of  the  colony,  and  are  ready,  should  it  be  thought  ^ 
necessary  or  expedient  by  the  settlers  to  put  arms  in  their  hands,  to  make  common  I 
cause  with  them  in  case  of  hostilities  by  any  of  the  natives,  which,  however,  is  not  j 
anticipated,  as  the  most  friendly  disposition  is  manifested  by  all  the  natives  of  the 
country  from  whom  any  danger  might  liave  been  apprehended. 


(     24     ) 

"The  township  of  CaMwell  is  about  seven  miles  from  Monrovia,  on  St.  Paul's  river, 
and  contains  a  population  of  five  hundred  and  sixty  agriculturists.  The  soil  is  ex 
ceedingly  fertile  and  pleasant,  and  the  people  satisfied  and  happy.  The  emigrants 
carried  out  by  me,  and  from  whom  I  received  a  pleasing  and  satisfactory  account  of 
that  part  of  the  territory,  are  located  there." 

Letter  from  Captain  Jlbels,  of  the  Schooner  Margaret 

Mercer,  Washington,  Feb.  10,  1832. 

"  Having  just  arrived  in  the  United  States  from  the  colony  of  Liberia,  to  which 
place  I  went  as  master  of  the  schooner  Margaret  Mercer,  and  where  I  remained 
thirteen  days,  during  which  time  I  was  daily  on  shore,  and  carefully  observed  the 
state  of  affairs,  and  inquired  into  the  condition  of  the  people,  I  venture  to  state 
some  facts  in  regard  to  the  circumstances  and  prospects  of  the  colony.  On  the 
14th  of  December  I  arrived,  and  on  the  15th  went  on  shore,  and  was  received  in 
the  most  polite  and  friendly  manner  by  the  governor,  Dr.  Mechlin,  who  introduced 
me  to  the  ministers  and  principal  inhabitants.  All  the  colonists  appeared  to  be 
in  good  health.  Ml  my  expectations  in  regard  to  the  aspect  of  things,  the  health, 
harmony,  order,  contentment,  industry,  and  general  prosperity  of  the  settlers,  were 
p«  more  than  realized.  There  are  about  two  hundred  buildings  in  the  town  of  Mon 
rovia,  extending  along  the  Cape  Montserado,  not  far  from  a  mile  and  a  quarter. — 
Most  of  these  are  good  substantial  houses  and  stores,  (the  first  story  of  many  of 
them  being  of  stone,)  and  some  of  them  handsome,  spacious,  painted,  and  with  Ve- 
nitian  blinds.  Nothing  struck  me  as  more  remarkable  than  the  great  superiority, 
^  in  intelligence,  manners,  conversation,  dress,  and  general  appearance  in  every  re- 
*•  Aspect,  of  the  people  over  their  coloured  brethren  in  America.  So  much  was  I  pleased 
with  what  I  saw,  that  I  observed  to  the  people,  should  I  make  a  true  report,  it 
would  hardly  be  credited  in  the  United  States.  Among  all  that  I  conversed  with, 
I  did  not  Jind  a  discontented  person,  or  hear  one  express  a  desire  to  return  to  America. 
I  saw  no  intemperance,  nor  did  I  hear  a  profane  word  uttered  by  any  one.  Being 
a  Minister  of  the  Gospel,  on  Christmas  day  I  preached  both  in  the  Methodist  and 
Baptist  Church,  to  full  and  attentive  congregations  of  from  three  to  four  hundred 
persons  in  each.  I  know  of  no  place  where  the  Sabbath  appears  to  be  more  re 
spected  than  in  Monrovia.  I  was  glad  to  see  that  the  Colonial  Agent  or  Governor 
is  a  constant  attendant  on  Divine  service,  and  appears  desirous  of  promoting  the 
moral  and  religious  welfare  of  the  people.  Most  of  the  settlers  appear  to  be  ra 
pidly  acquiring1  property ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  are  doing  better  for  themselves 
and  their  children  in  Liberia,  than  they  could  do  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
Could  the  free  people  of  colour  in  this  country  but  see  the  real  condition  of  their 
brethren  who  have  settled  in  Africa,  I  am  persuaded  they  would  require  no  other 
motive  to  induce  them  to  emigrate.  This  is  my  decided  and  deliberate  judgment. 
"P.  S.  I  have  several  times  dined  with  the  Colonists,  and  I  think  no  better  tables 
could  be  set  in  any  pail  of  the  world.  We  had  every  thing  that  heart  could  desire, 
of  meats,  and  fish,  and  fowls,  and  vegetables,  and  wines,"  &c.  &c. 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Mechlin,  Colony  Jlgent. 

f(  As  to  the  morals  of  the  colonists,  I  consider  them  much  better  than  the  people 
of  the  United  States;  that  is,  you  may  take  an  equal  number  of  the  inhabitants  from 
any  section  of  the  Union,  and  you  will  Jind  more  drunkards,  more  profane  swearers 
and  sabbath-breakers,  &c.,  than  in  Liberia.  Indeed,  I  know  of  no  country  where 
things  are  conducted  more  quietly  and  orderly  than  in  this  colony.  You  rarely 
hear  an  oath,  and  as  to  riots  and  breaches  of  the  peace,  I  recollect  of  but  one  in 
stance,  and  that  of  a  trifling  nature,  that  has  come  under  my  notice  since  1  assumed 
the  government  of  the  colony.  The  sabbath  is  more  strictly  observed,  than  I  ever 
saw  it  in  the  United  States.  Our  Sunday  schools  are  well  attended,  not  only  by 
the  children  of  the  colonists,  but  also  by  the  native  children  who  reside  amongst 
us.  The  natives  themselves  are  so  well  acquainted  with  our  strict  observance  of 
this  day,  that  you  never  find  them  offering  any  thing  for  sale,  nor  can  you  hire 
them  to  work  for  you;  I  mean  those  who  have  been  amongst  us,  and  at  all  acquaint 
ed  with  our  customs." 


(     25     ) 

Extract  from  the  examination  of  Mr.  Devany,  High  Sheriff 
of  Liberia,  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  U.  S.,  May  2.7-28,  1830. 

"Some  instances  of  intemperance  have  occurred — but  the  habit  is  confined  to 
two  persons  only,  and  does  not  go  to  such  an  extent,  as  to  be  of  serious  injury  to 
the  families  of  the  individuals,  who  are  blacksmiths.  There  are  three  churches, 
frame  buildings,  one  of  them  with  a  steeple.  One  belongs  to  the  baptists,  one  to 
the  methodists,  and  one,  not  yet  finished,  to  the  presbyterians.  Divine  service  is 
attended  three  times  on  Sundays,  and  also  on  Thursday  and  Friday  evenings.  The 
Sunday  schools  are  attended  by  many  of  the  native  children.  All  who  can  be  de 
cently  clad,  are  in  the  habit  of  attending." 

*  *  *  *  *  "  The  court  holds  its  sessions  on  the  first  Monday  in 
every  month.  Juries  are  empanneled  as  writh  us.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  court 
extends  over  the  whole  colony.  The  trials  are  principally  for  larceny,  and  the  cri 
minals  generally  natives,  who  commit  thefts  in  the  settlements.  A  few  instances 
of  kidnapping  have  occurred.  These  depredations  were  committed  on  the  recap 
tured  Africans.  To  the  honour  of  the  emigrants  be  it  mentioned,  that  but  Jive  of 
their  number  have  been  committed  for  stealing  or  misdemeanor  since  1827. 

"There  is  much  hospitality  to  be  found  in  Monrovia;  and  among  the  inhabitants, 
a  greater  proportion  of  moral  and  religious  people,  than  in  this  city,  [Philadelphia.] 
I  never  saw  a  man  intoxicated,  or  heard  any  prof  one  swearing  during  the  three  weeks 
I  was  there." — CAPTAIN  SHERMAN. 

Yours,  &c.  M.  C. 
Philadelphia,  April  22,  1832. 

LETTER  IX. 

Soil  and  Climate  of  Liberia. — Commerce  and  Productions. — 
Disadvantages  of  Slavery  to  the  White  population. — Ad 
vantages  of  Colonization  to  our  Free  Coloured  Population. 

DEAR  SIR — 

The  colonists  in  their  address  to  the  coloured  population  of  the  United  States,  dated 
September  1827,  observe  that  "The  soil  is  not  exceeded  for  fertility,  or  productive 
ness,  when  properly  cultivated,  by  any  soil  in  the  world.  The  hills  and  plains  are 
covered  with  perpetual  verdure.  The  productions  of  the  soil  go  on  through  the  year, 
without  intermission.  Notwithstanding  the  imperfections  of  the  farming  tools  used 
by  the  natives,  they  raise  more  than  they  can  consume,  and  frequently  more  than 
they  can  sell.  We  have,"  they  add,  "no  dreary  winter  here,  for  one-half  the 
year,  to  consume  the  productions  of  the  other  half.  Nature  is  constantly  renovating 
herself,  and  constantly  pouring  her  treasures  all  the  year  round,  into  the  lap  of  the 
industrious. 

"  The  true  character  of  the  African  climate,"  continue  the  colonists,  "  is  not  un 
derstood  in  other  countries.  Its  inhabitants  are  as  robust,  as  healthy,  and  as  long- 
lived,  to  say  the  least,  as  those  of  any  other  country.  Nothing  like  an  epidemic  has 
ever  appeared  in  the  colony — nor  can  we  learn  from  the  natives,  that  the  calamity  of 
a  sweeping  sickness  ever  yet  existed  in  that  part  of  the  continent.  But  the  change 
from  a  temperate  to  a  tropical  country,  is  a  great  one — too  great  not  to  affect  the 
health,  more  or  less — and  in  the  case  of  old  people,  and  very  young  children,  it 
often  causes  death.  In  the  early  years  of  the  colony,  want  of  good  houses,  the 
great  fatigues  and  dangers  of  the  settlers,  their  irregular  mode  of  living,  and  the 
hardships  and  discouragements  they  met  with,  greatly  helped  the  other  causes  of 
sickness,  which  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent,  and  were  attended  with  great 
mortality.  But  we  look  back  to  these  times  as  to  a  season  of  trial  long  past,  and  nearly 
forgotten.  Our  houses  and  circumstances  are  now  comfortable,-  and  for  the  last  two 
or  three  years  not  one  person  in  jifty,  from  the  middle  and  southern  states,  has  died 
from  the  change  of  climate." 

for  salu- 
Itivation, 
and 


(     26     ) 

affording1  across  its  channel  from  bank  to  bank  from  three  to  four  fathoms  of  water — 
the  country  on  either  side  champaign,  and  the  level  about  twenty  to  thirty  feet  above 
that  of  the  river — the  banks  every  where  perpendicular,  exhibiting-,  in  order,  the 
different  strata  of  which  the  general  bed  of  the  country  is  composed — the  waters  of 
the  river  to  be  sweet  at  a  very  small  distance  above  the  mouth,  eight  months  in  the 
year — at  nine  miles,  the  year  round — and  you  have  a  correct,  but  still  imperfect 
idea  of  this  noble  river,  and  the  adjacent  country.  The  original  growth  is  exu 
berant,  and  the  soil  a  rich,  deep  and  loose  loam,  entirely  destitute  of  stones,  ex 
hibiting-  in  some  places  a  prevalence  of  sand,  and  in  others  of  a  fat  clay — but  all 
about  equally  produo^ve." — Jishmun. 

"Not  an  hour  have  I  spent  here  without  feeling  the  refreshing  and  salutary  in 
fluences  of  a  fresh  breeze  from  the  ocean.  The  settlement  can  never  be  without 
it.  *  *  No  situation  of  Western  Africa  can  be  more  salubrious.  The  sea  air 
does  all  that  can  be  done  for  it  in  this  climate.  One  peculiarity  is,  that  the  night 
air  is  nearly  as  pure  as  any  other.  *  *  The  rapidity  and  luxuriance  of  vegeta 
tion  here,  the  natives  of  temperate  latitudes  can  hardly  imagine." — Idem. 

Dr.  Mechlin  states  in  a  recent  communication,  that  "to  those 
emigrants  who  have  had  the  fever,  and  are  in  a  great  measure  ac 
climated,  Africa  proves  a  more  congenial  clime  than  the  United 
States.  There  they  enjoy  a  greater  immunity  from  disease:  and 
pulmonary  affections,  so  rife  among  the  coloured  population  in  the 
United  States,  are  almost  unknown  in  Liberia.77 

"  It  has  been  objected  that  the  climate  is  very  unhealthy — this  is  true  as  it  res 
pects  the  whites,  but  erroneous  as  respects  the  coloured  people.  Those  from  the 
middle  and  northern  states  have  to  undergo  what  is  called  a  seasoning, — that  is, 
they  generally  take  the  fever  the  first  month  of  their  residence;  but  it  has  rarely 
proved  fatal  since  accommodations  have  been  prepared  for  their  reception:  those 
from  Georgia,  the  Carolinas,  and  the  southern  parts  of  Virginia,  either  escape  the 
fever  altogether,  or  have  it  very  slightly.  Deaths  occur  there  indeed,  as  in  other 
places:  but  Dr.  Mechlin,  the  agent,  assured  me  that  the  bills  of  mortality  would 
show  a  less  proportion  of  deaths,  than  those  of  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  or  New 
York." — CAPTAIX  SHERMAN. 

The  uniform  experienceof  the  .colonists  has  proved  that  emigrants 
from  the  Southern  States  become  speedily  acclimated.  If  they  have 
the  fever  of  the  country,  it  affects  them  very  lightly — and  those 
who  are  prudent,  and  observe  the  advice  of  the  settlers,  are  in  no 
more  danger  than  emigrants  from  Europe  to  this  country. 

Commerce  and  Productions — The  commerce  of  Liberia,  as 
yet  in  its  infancy,  is  respectable,  and  increasing  annually.  The 
exports  are  rice,  palm  oil,  ivory,  tortoise  shell,  dye  wood,  gold, 
hides,  wax,  and  coffee.  Coffee  and  cotton  grow  spontaneously. 
Indigo  and  the  sugar  cane  succeed,  and  will  be  cultivated  to  ad 
vantage.  Camwood  is  abundant,  and  mahogany  grows  at  the 
cape.  The  timber  of  Liberia  is  various  and  durable,  and  well 
adapted  to  building.  The  imports  consist  of  an  assortment  of  the 
productions  of  Europe,  the  West  Indies  and  America.  The  port 
of  Monrovia  is  seldom  clear  of  European  and  American  vessels, 
loading  and  unloading. 

A  trading  company  has  been  formed  at  Monrovia,  with  a  capi 
tal  of  $1000;  and  an  agreement  entered  into,  that  no  dividend 
shall  be  made  until  the  profits  increase  the  capital  to  $20,000. 
The  stock  has  risen  from  50  to  75  on  transfer  shares. 

A  colonist,  of  the  name  of  Waring,  sold  goods  to  the  amount 
of  $70,000,  in  the  year  1830.  The  sales  of  Mr.  Devany,  the 
sheriff,  amounted  to  between  24  and  $25,000,  and  his  property  was 


(     27    ) 

worth  about  $20,000,  made  during  the  six  years  in  which  he 
has  resided  in  Monrovia. 

"The  commerce  of  the  colony,  during-  the  year  1831,  has  greatly  exceeded 
that  of  any  former  year.  Within  thatperiod  46  vessels  visited  the  port,  of  which 
21  were  Americans,  and  a  majority  of  the  remainder  English.  The  exports  amount 
ed  to  nearly  90,000  dollars,  and  the  merchandize  and  produce  on  hand,  at  the  close 
of  the  year,  amounted  to  about  23,000  dollars." 

Disadvantages  to  the  Whites  resulting  from  Slavery. 
"  To  provide  for  the  free  negro  a  country,  is  alike  the  dictate  of  humanity  towards 
him,  and  of  policy  towards  ourselves.  While  he  remains  here,  no  white  labourer 
will  seek  employment  near  him.  Hence  it  is,  that  in  some  of  the  richest  counties 
east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  the  white  population  is  stationary,  and  in  many  others  it 
is  retrograde.  Virginia,  once  the  first  state  in  numbers,  as  she  is  still  in  territory, 
has  become  the  third,  and  will  soon  have  to  descend  to  the  fourth  rank.  The  valua 
tion  of  the  lands  of  New  York,  exceeds  the  estimate  of  all  the  lands  and  slaves  in  Vir 
ginia" — Richmond  and  Manchester  Colonization  Society. 

" Experience  has  taught  us,  that  slaves  add  nothing  to  our  wealth.     Where  they 

{  exist,  labour  is  not  only  high,  but  badly  performed;  and  the  communities  growing 
up  around  us,  which  are  clear  of  this  evil,  flourish  over  us,  and  by  their  cheapness 
of  labour,  nicer  mechanism,  and  more  abundant  industry,  are  making  us  tributary. 

;  The  progress  of  light — the  conduct  of  other  nations — and  particularly  that  of  our 
South  American  neighbours,  in  liberating  their  slaves — the  growing  belief  of  the 
disadvantages  of  slavery,  with  other  causes,  contribute  to  increase  the  conviction 
that  slavery  is  an  evil,  and  that  its  consequences  may  one  day  or  other  become  terrible." 
— Kentucky  Colonization  Society. 

"  Slavery  is  ruinous  to  the  whites — retards  improvement — roots  out  an  industrious 
population,  banishes  the  yeomanry  of  the  country — deprives  the  spinner,  the  wea 
ver,  the  smith,  the  shoemaker,  the  carpenter,  of  employment  and  support.  This 
evil  admits  of  no  remedy — it  is  increasing,  and  will  continue  to  increase,  until  the 
whole  countiy  will  be  inundated  with  one  black  wave  covering  its  whole  extent, 
with  a  few  white  faces  here  and  there  floating  on  the  surface.  The  master  has  no 
capital  but  what  is  vested  in  human  flesh — the  father,  instead  of  being  richer  for 
his  sons,  is  at  a  loss  to  provide  for  them — there  is  no  diversity  of  occupations,  no 
incentive  to  enterprise.  Labour  of  every  species  is  disreputable,  because  performed 
mostly  by  slaves.  Our  towns  are  stationary,  our  villages  almost  every  where  declining 
— and  the  general  aspect  of  the  country  marks  the  curse  of  a  wasteful  idle,  reckless 
population,  who  have  no  interest  in  the  soil,  and  care  not  how  much  it  is  impo 
verished.  Public  improvements  are  neglected,  and  the  entire  continent  does  not 
present  a  region  for  which  nature  has  done  so  much,  and  art  so  little.  If  cultivated 
by  free  labour,  the  soil  of  Virginia  is  capable  of  sustaining  a  dense  population, 
among  whom  labour  would  be  honourable,  and  where  *  the  busy  hum  of  men* 
would  tell  that  all  were  happy,  and  that  all  were  free." — Speech  of  T.  Marshal,  of 
Fauquier  Co.  in  the  legislature  of  Virginia. 

The  advantages  of  Colonization  to  our  Free  Coloured  People. 
That  the  free  coloured  population  in  this  country  labour  under 
the  most  oppressive  disadvantages,  which  their  freedom  can  by  no 
means  counterbalance,  is  too  obvious  to  admit  of  doubt.  I  waive 
all  inquiry  whether  this  be  right  or  wrong.  I  speak  of  things  as 
they  are — not  as  they  might,  or  ought  to  be.  They  are  cut  off 
from  the  most  remote  chance  of  amalgamation  with  the  white  po 
pulation,  by  feelings  or  prejudices,  call  them  what  you  will,  that 
are  ineradicable.  Their  situation  is  more  unfavourable  than  that 
of  many  slaves.  '<  With  all  the  burdens,  cares  and  responsibili 
ties  of  freedom,  they  have  few  or  none  of  its  substantial  benefits. 
Their  associations  are,  and  must  be,  chiefly  with  slaves.  Their 
right  of  suffrage  gives  them  little,  if  any,  political  influence,  and 
they  are  practically,  if  not  theoretically  excluded  from  represen- 


(     23     ) 

tation  and  weight  in  our  public  councils."  No  merit,  no  ser 
vices,  no  talents  can  ever  elevate  many  of  them  to  a  level  with 
the  whites.  Occasionally,  an  exception  may  arise.  A  coloured 
individual,  of  great  talents,  merits,  and  wealth,  may  emerge  from 
the  crowd.  Cases  of  this  kind  are  to  the  last  degree  rare.  The 
coloured  people  are  subject  to  legal  disabilities,  more  or  less  gall 
ing  and  severe,  in  almost  every  state  in  the  Union.  Who  has  not 
deeply  regretted  their  late  harsh  expulsion  from  the  state  of  Ohio, 
and  their  being  forced  to  abandon  the  country  of  their  birth, 
which  had  profited  by  their  labours,  and  to  take  refuge  in  a  fo 
reign  land?  Severe  regulations  have  been  recently  passed  in  Lou 
isiana,  and  various  other  states,  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  free 
people  of  colour.  Whenever  they  appear,  they  are  to  be  banished 
in  sixty  days.  The  strong  opposition  to  the  establishment  of  a 
negro  college  in  Newhaven,  speaks  in  a  language  not  to  be  mis 
taken,  the  jealousy  with  which  they  are  regarded.  And  there  is 
no  reason  to  expect,  that  the  lapse  of  centuries  will  make  any 
change  in  this  respect.  They  will  always,  unhappily,  be  regard 
ed  as  an  inferior  race.  In  some  of  the  states,  they  are  actually 
doomed  to  idleness,  because,  however  skilful  they  may  be,  in  any 
branch  of  manufactures,  white  operatives  cannot  generally  be  in 
duced  to  work  with  them.  Such  being  their  situation  in  this 
country,  surely  they  ought  to  long  as  eagerly  for  a  settlement  in 
the  land  of  their  ancestors,  as  the  captive  tribes  of  Israel  hun 
gered  for  a  return  to  the  land  of  Canaan. 

What  a  contrast  to  their  situation  in  Liberia!  There  they  will 
be  lords  of  the  soil,  and  have  every  inducement  and  every  oppor 
tunity  to  cultivate  their  minds.  They  will  not  be  borne  down 
by  that  sense  of  inferiority,  from  whose  goadings  they  cannot  es 
cape  here,  and  which  is  enough  to  depress  minds  the  most  highly 
gifted.  According  to  their  respective  merits,  they  may  aspire 
to  any  of  the  offices  of  honour  and  profit  and  influence,  in  the  co 
lony.  The  bar,  and  the  bench,  and  the  medical  profession,  will 
be  open  to  them,  from  which  they  are  debarred  here  by  an  im 
passible  barrier. 

It  is  but  fair  and  impartial  to  give  the  views  of  a  portion  of  the 
coloured  people,  in  regard  to  the  plan  of  colonization.  It  remains 
for  the  reader  to  decide  on  their  correctness,  when  he  has  duly 
weighed  the  contents  of  letter  VIII. 

The  following  resolutions  were  passed  by  a  meeting  of  the  peo 
ple  of  Colour  in  New  Bedford,  January  22,  1832. 

" Resolved,  That  in  whatever  light  we  view  the  Colonization  Society,  we  discover 
nothing  in  it  but  terror,  prejudice  and  oppression;  that  the  warm  and  beneficent 
hand  of  philanthrophy  is  not  apparent  in  the  system,  but  the  influence  of  the  So 
ciety  on  public  opinion  is  more  prejudicial  to  the  interest  and  welfare  of  the  people 
of  colour  in  the  United  States,  than  slavery  itself. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Society,  to  effect  its  purpose,  the  removal  of  the  free  people 
of  colour  (not  the  slaves)  through  its  agents,  teaches  the  public  to  believe  that  it  is 
patriotic  and  benevolent  to  withhold  from  us  knowledge  and  the  means  of  acquir 
ing  subsistence,  and  to  look  upon  us  as  unnatural  and  illegal  residents  in  this  coun- 
iy;  and  thus  by  force  of  prejudice,  if  not  by  law,  endeavour  to  compel  us  to 
embark  for  Africa,  and  that  too,  apparently  by  our  own  free  will  and  consent." 


29 
LETTER  X. 

Of  Africa  before  the  Irruptions  of  the  Barbarians. — Effects  of  the 
Colonization  on  the  slave  trade. — Slight  sketch  of  that  nefa 
rious  traffic. 

DEAR  SIR, 

Those  who  argue,  from  the  present  state  of  the  coloured  popu 
lation  of  this  country,  against  the  prospect  of  a  high  degree  of 
civilization  in  Africa,  reason  from  very  imperfect  data.  Here 
the  coloured  people  have  laboured,  and  still  labour,  under  almost 
every  possible  disadvantage.  In  most  of  the  southern  states, 
slaves  are  debarred  from  the  attainment  of  the  slightest  rudiments 
of  knowledge.  And  even  in  states  free  from  slavery,  the  coloured 
people  have  little  opportunity  of  cultivation.  Condemned  by 
poverty,  almost  universally,  to  the  lowest  occupations,  they  have 
neither  time  nor  means  to  improve  themselves.  But  they  will 
not  suffer  much,  on  a  fair  comparison  with  whites  of  the  same 
grade.  The  best  criterion,  however,  by  which  to  judge,  is  the  pro 
gress  they  have  made  in  Liberia,  where  they  escape  the  degrada 
tion  to  which  they  are  exposed  here.  Of  their  improvement  in  mo 
rals,  and  manners,  and  habits,  the  testimony  of  Captains  Sherman, 
Kennedy,  Nicholson,  and  Abels,  from  which  I  have  made  large 
quotations  in  the  preceding  pages,  precludes  all  doubt.  It  may 
be  confidently  stated,  that  few  of  the  American  colonies  made 
greater  advances  in  the  same  space  of  time  than  they  have  done  in 
the  eight  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  establishment  of  order 
and  good  government  in  1824.  The  distance  between  the  Colonists 
at  Liberia  and  the  people  of  the  United  States,  is  not  so  great  as 
between  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  at  present,  and  those 
in  olden  times,  when  the  latter  painted  their  bodies,  had  no  chim 
nies  to  their  houses,  lay  upon  straw  on  the  ground,  covered 
themselves  with  skins  fastened  with  skewers,  and  were  ten 
ants  in  common  with  the  pigs  which  partook  of  the  hospitality 
of  their  houses. 

Africa,  though  brutalized  by  wars,  the  invasions  of  barbarians, 
and  the  most  grinding  despotism,  was  once  on  as  proud  an  emi 
nence  in  point  of  civilization  as  any  part  of  Europe.  Carthage 
contended  for  the  supremacy  with  Rome  for  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years — and,  but  for  domestic  factions,  the  bane  of  repub 
lics,  would  probably  have  subjugated  Italy.  The  destruction  of 
the  Carthaginian  annals  by  the  Romans  renders  it  impossible  to 
enumerate  any  of  her  great  men,  except  her  warriors.  Rome 
never  produced  a  greater  general  than  Hannibal.  Some  of  his 
relations  were  men  of  great  talents  in  the  same  department.  Ju- 
gurtha  was  superior  to  most  of  the  Romans  who  were  sent  against 
him.  Terence,  the  dramatist,  was  an  African. 

Christianity  and  civilization  were  early  introduced  into  Africa. 
There  were  several  provincial  councils  held  there.  At  one  of 
them,  held  in  Carthage,  in  397,  the  canon  of  the  Roman  Catholic 


30 


Bible  was  settled.  Another  was  held  in  the  same  place  in  410 — 
and  two  others  at  Milevi.  In  the  fifth  century,  the  number  of  Ca 
tholic  Bishops  in  Africa,  was  four  hundred.  Origen,  Tertullian, 
Cyprian  and  Augustine,  among  the  great  lights  of  Christianity 
in  their  day,  were  Africans.  And  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect 
that  future  Hannibals  and  Terences  and  Cyprians  and  Augus- 
tines  will  arise  to  defend  and  illuminate  that  now  benighted 
country.  Should  such  a  result  take  place,  the  merit  will  in  a 
great  degree  belong  to  the  illustrious  founders  of  the  Colonization 
Society. 

Among  the  striking  advantages  attending  the  Colony  at  Libe 
ria,  is  the  check  it  has  given  to  the  slave  trade  already,  and  the 
probable  suppression,  ultimately,  of  that  nefarious  traffic  on  a 
large  portion  of  the  western  coast  of  Africa  by  the  gradual  exten 
sion  of  the  settlements.  Before  the  establishment  of  the  settle 
ments  at  Liberia,  there  were  several  slave  factories  within  a  few 
miles  of  Monrovia,  all  of  which  have  been  completely  broken  up. 
Four  or  five  years  since,  there  was  not  a  single  factory  from 
Sierra  Leone  to  Cape  Mount,  a  distance  of  100  miles;  and  120 
miles,  from  Cape  Mount,  to  Trade  Town,  the  whole  of  the  coast 
of  Liberia.  More  recently,  a  factory  has  been  established  at 
Cape  Mount,  forty-five  miles  from  Monrovia,  where  the  trade  is 
carried  on  briskly.  But  it  is  probable,  as  soon  as  the  Colony 
gains  more  strength,  that  this  nest  of  pirates,  kidnappers  and 
traders  in  human  flesh  and  human  suffering,  will  be  extirpated. 

The  African  chiefs,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Liberia,  have  in 
general  voluntarily  abandoned  the  traffic,  finding  they  can  pro- 
cuie  what  articles  they  want,  of  European,  American,  and  West 
India  goods,  by  the  sale  of  their  own  domestic  productions.  Some 
of  them  have  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  colony. 

To  duly  appreciate  the  advantages  of  this  result,  it  is  only  ne 
cessary  to  reflect  for  a  moment  on  the  horrors  of  this  nefarious 
traffic  ;  and  although  it  has  been  presented  times  without  number, 
to  the  execration  of  mankind ,  I  may  be  permited  to  take  a  bird's 
eye  view  of  it.  The  number  of  slaves  kidnapped  in  1824,  was 
120,000.  And  the  number  imported  into  the  single  port  of  Rio 
for  nine  years,  1820— 8,  was  261,964. 


In  1820,  15,020 

1821,  24,134 

1822,  27,363 


In  1823,  20,349 

1824,  39,503 

1825,  26,254 


In  1826,  33,999 

1827,  29,787 

1828,  43,555 


Total 261,964 

Walsh's  notices  of  Brazil,  vol.  2.  p.  178. 


Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  chief  maritime  powers  of 
Europe,  and  those  of  the  United  States,  to  suppress  this  traffic, 
there  have  been,  from  the  two  towns,  Muney  and  Pangas,  352 
cargoes  of  slaves  taken,  in  little  more  than  a  year. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  one  third,  but  say  one  fifth,perish  in 
the  voyage  ;  and  that  an  equal  number  die  after  their  landing,  of 
diseases  contracted  on  the  voyage,  or  of  grief  for  their  forlorn  si 
tuation  ! 


51  ;•:-'; 

To  heighten  the  enormity-  of  this  "sin  crying  to  haaven  for 
vengeance,"  it  is  ascertained,  thai  in  cases'  of  soaitihy  cf  provi 
sion,  the  slaves  are  often  remorselessly  thrown  overboard.  On 
board  a  vessel  some  time  since,  thirty  nine  negroes  became  blind, 
and  twelve  had  lost  an  eye.  They  were  thrown  into  the  fathom 
less  ocean.  A  single  vessel,  the  Protector,  took  on  board  at  Moz 
ambique  807  slaves,  of  whom  339  died  on  the  voyage. 

The  Maria  Primeira,  a  Portugese  ship,  took  on  board  upwards 
of  500  slaves.  This  number  wTas  reduced  to  403  in  consequence 
of  extreme  crowding,  before  she  was  captured,  and  brought  into 
Sierra  Leone.  Nearly  100  more  died  soon  afterwards,  from  disea 
ses  contracted  on  board.  —  (Transactions  of  the  London  African 
Association.) 

The  following  heart-rending  picture  of  the  slave  trade  has  been 
drawn  by  Sir  George  O'Meara,  who  was  employed  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  to  suppress  it. 

"  Such  is  the  merciless  treatment  of  the  slaves,  that  no  fancy  can  picture  the  hor 
rors  of  the  voyage.  Crowded  together  so  as  not  to  have  the  power  to  move  —  linked 
one  to  the  other  by  the  leg—  never  unfettered  while  life  remains,  or  till  the  iron  shall 
have  fretted  the  flesh  almost  to  the  bone  —  forced  under  a  deck,  as  I  have  seen  them, 
not  thirty  inches  in  height—  breathing  an  atmosphere  the  most  putrid  and  pestilential 
possible  —  with  little  food  and  less  water  —  subject  to  the  most  severe  punishment,  at 
the  caprice  or  fancy  of  the  brute  who  may  command  the  vessel  —  it  is  to  me  a 
matter  of  extreme  wonder  that  any  of  these  miserable  wretches  live  the  voyage 
through.  Many  of  them,  indeed,  perish  on  the  passage,  and  those  of  them  who  re 
main  to  meet  the  shore,  present  a  picture  of  wretchedness  language  cannot  express." 

April  26,  1832.  Yours,  &c.  M.  C. 


Letter,  from  the  Hon.  James  Madison,  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Society,  dated  Montpelier,  December  29,  1831. 

DEAR  SIR:  I  received,  in  due  lime,  your  letter  of  the  21st  ult.  and  with  due 
sensibility  to  the  subject  of  it.  Such,  however,  has  been  the  effect  of  a  painful 
rheumatism  on  my  general  condition,  as  well  in  disqualifying  my  fingers  for  (he 
use  of  the  pen,  that  1  cjuld  not  do  justice  "to  the  principles  and  measures  of  the 
Colonization  Society  in  all  the  great  and  various  relations  they  sustain  to  our  own 
country  and  to  Atrica,"  if  my  views  of  them  could  have  the  value  which  your 
partiality  supposes.  I  may  observe  in  brief,  that  the  Society  had  always  my 
good  wishes,  though  with  hopes  of  its  success  less  sanguine  than  were  enter 
tained  by  others,  found  to  have  been  the  better  judges;  and,  that  I  feel  the 
greatest  pleasure  at  the  progress  already  made  by  the  Society,  and  the  en 
couragement  to  encounter  remaining  difficulties  afforded  by  the  earlier  and 
greater  ones  already  overcome.  Many  circumstances  at  the  present  moment 
seem  to  concur  in  brightening  the  prospects  of  the  Society,  and  cherishing  the  hope 
that  the  time  will  come,  when  the  dreadful  calamity  which  has  so  long  afflicted  our 
country  and  filled  so  many  with  despair,  will  be  gradually  removed  and  by  means  con 
sistent  with,  justice,  peace  and  the  general  satisfaction:  thus  giving  to  our  country 
the  full  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  liberty,  arid  to  the  world  the  full  benefit  of  its 
great  example.  I  never  considered  the  main  difficulty  of  the  great  work  as  lying  in 
the  deficiency  of  emancipations,  but  in  an  inadequacy  of  asylums  for  such  a  grow 
ing  mass  of  population,  and  in  the  great  expense  of  removing  it  to  its  new  home. 
The  spirit  of  private  manumission  asthelawsmay  permit,and  theexiles  mayconsent, 
is  increasing  and  will  increase;  and  there  are  sufficient  indications  that  the  public 
authorities  in  slave-holding  States  are  looking  forward  to  interpositions  in  differ 
ent  forms  that  must  have  a  powerful  effect.  With  respect  to  the  new  abode  for 
the  emigrants,  all  agree  that  the  choice  made  by  the  Society  is  rendered  peculiarly 
appropriate  by  considerations  which  need  not  be  repeated,  and  if  other  situations 
should  not  be  found  eligible  receptacles  for  a  portionof  them,  the  prospects  in  Africa 
seem  to  be  expanding  in  a  hi<yhl  v  enc.onrae'ino'  degree. 


32 

"  In  contemplating  the  pecuniary  resources  needed  for  the  removal  of  such  a  num 
ber  to  so  great,  a.  distance,  my  thoughts  and  hopes  have  been  long  turned  to  the 
rich  fund  prWeniei' in  tt<;  western  lands  of  the  Nation,  which  will  soon  entirely 
cease  to  be  under  a  pledge  for  another  object.  The  great  one  in  question  is  truly  of 
a  national  character,  and  it  is  known  that  distinguished  patriots  not  dwelling  in 
slave-holding  States  have  viewed  the  object  in  that  light,  and  would  be  willing  to  let 
the  national  domain  be  a  resource  in  effecting  it. 

"•  Should  it  be  remarked  that  the  States,  though  all  may  be  interested  in  reliev 
ing  our  country  from  the  coloured  population,  are  not  equally  so  ;  it  is  but  fair 
to  recollect,  that  the  sections  most  to  be  benefited,  are  those  whose  cessions  crea 
ted  the  fund  to  be  disposed  of. 

"I  arn  aware  of  the  constitutional  obstacle  which  has  presented  itself;  but  if  the 
general  will  be  reconciled  to  an  application  of  the  territorial  fund  to  the  removal 
of  the  coloured  population,  a  grant  to  Congress  of  the  necessary  authority  could 
be  carried,  with  little  delay,  through  the  forms  of  the  Constitution. 

"  Sincerely  wishing  an  increasing  success  to  the  labours  of  the  Society,  I  pray  you 
to  be  assured  of  my  esteem,  and  to  accept  my  friendly  salutations." 

REV.  R.  R.  GUIILEY. 

JAMES  MADISON. 

Extract  of  a  Letter  from  the  Hon.  John  Marshall,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States,  dated  Richmond,  December  14,  1831. 

"  The  great  object  of  the  Society,  I  presume,  is  to  obtain  pecuniary  aids.  Appli 
cation  will  undoubtedly  be  made,  I  hope  successfully,  to  the  several  State  Legis 
lature?,  by  the  societies  formed  within  them  respectively.  It  is  extremely  desira 
ble  that  they  should  pass  permanent  laws  on  the  subject,  and  the  excitement 
produced  by  the  late  insurrection  makes  this  a  favourable  moment  for  the  friends 
of  the  Colony  to  press  for  such  acts.  It  would  be  also  desirable,  if  such  a  direc 
tion  could  be  given  to  State  Legislation  as  might  have  some  tendency  to  incline 
the  people  of  colour  to  migrate.  This,  however,  is  a  subject  of  much  delicacy. 
Whatever  may  be  the  success  of  our  endeavours  to  obtain  acts  for  permanent  aid?, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  our  applications  for  immediate  contributions  will  receive 
attention.  It  is  possible,  though  not  probable,  that  more  people  of  colour  may 
be  disposed  to  migrate  than  can  be  provided  for,  with  the  funds  the  Society  may 
be  enabled  to  command.  Under  this  impression  I  suggested,  some  years  past,  to 
one  or  two  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  to  allow  a  small  additional  bounty  in  lands 
to  those  who  would  pay  their  own  passage  in  whole  or  in  part.  The  suggestion, 
however,  was  not  approved. 

"It  is  undoubtedly  of  great  importance  to  retain  the  countenance  and  protection 
of  the  General  Government.  Some  of  our  cruisers  stationed  on  the  coast  of  Africa 
would,  at  the  same  time,  interrupt  the  slave  trade — a  horrid  traffic,  detested  by  all 
good  men,  and  would  protect  the  vessels  and  commerce  of  the  Colony  from  pirates 
who  inftst  those  seas.  The  power  of  the  government  to  afford  this  aid  is  not,  I 
believe,  contested.  I  regret  that  its  power  to  grant  pecuniary  aid  is  not  equally 
free  from  question.  On  this  subject,  I  have  always  thought,  and  still  think,  that 
the  proposition  made  by  Mr.  King,  in  the  Senate,  is  the  most  unexceptionable, 
and  the  most  effective  that  can  be  devised. 

"  The  fund  would  probably  operate  as  rapidly  as  would  be  desirable,  when  we 
take  into  view  the  other  resources  which  might  come  in  aid  of  it;  and  its  applica 
tion  would  be,  perhaps,  less  exposed  to  tho?e  constitutional  objections  which  are 
made  in  the  South  than  the  application  of  money  drawn  from  the  treasury  and 
raised  by  taxes.  The  lands  are  the  property  of  the  United  States,  and  have  here 
tofore  been  disposed  of  by  the  government  under  the  idea  of  absolute  ownership." 


REFERENCES. 

TDaptUt  Chunk 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

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